Invincible
by upontheridge
Summary: <html><head></head>Everything that held his world together before just shifted. There was only one thing, one person that held him together now and he hated it. My first attempt, go easy on me please!</html>
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I do not own the Twilight Series in any way.

This was so wrong in many, many ways. Fucked up even. No no..._completely_ fucked up. There I stood looking like an idiot unable to take my gaze off of the girl who just came storming up to us. Not just any girl either, the leech lover. And on top of that Jakes girl. I couldn't help the growl that erupted from my chest at that thought. Well, she was Jakes girl until this very moment. He was going to rip my head off, but right now it didn't matter.

Why was she still yelling? Oh yeah.

"What did you do!" She was cute when she was mad. Wait, stop that!

I could already feel myself start to shake, but it wasn't at her. I could never get mad at her. Not now. Not ever. I was pissed at myself. What the fuck did I just do?

Jared letting out a laugh when he realized what happened just made it worse.

"What did we do? What did he tell you, huh?" I demanded, watching her face as it turned to mine again. Nope, not letting myself go all soft. But those brown eyes...I felt something jolt inside of me as I stared into them again.

"Nothing, he tells me nothing because he's afraid of you!" She yelled in my face.

I couldn't help but start to laugh, if at anything but her. The way her face puckered as she yelled and the way her face was as red as a tomato, so adorable. Everything was so adorable.

Then she slapped me across my face. Of course it didn't hurt, but I was already pissed at myself for doing this. I started to shake thinking about it and meeting her eyes yet again. This was so wrong.

"Paul, calm down! Bella get back!" Sam tried to order me, but it was too late. The heat was radiating out of my body and I could feel my body tremble from head to toe now. Especially now that Jacob was in sight running towards us.

"Bella!" he yelled as he leaped towards us.

That did it. I let a growl grow in my chest and erupt from my throat. I let the rage consume me and I bursted into my wolf and leaped forward.

It shouldn't of, but it hurt to see the fear on her face before she turned and started running.

"Jake! Run!"

She tripped, of course she tripped.

Jacobs reddish brown fur burst everywhere as he phased. His thoughts being hostile towards me, yelling at me to get back to get away from her pissed me off even more.

I wasn't going to hurt her. I couldn't. She was the only thing tying me to this Earth, the center of my...What the HELL was I thinking?

_You did NOT do that Paul!_ Jacob was growling at me, and taking a leap at me. Great now he knew.

I lurched towards him, sinking my teeth into his neck. He yelped, but forced me to the ground snapping his teeth at me. I rolled around, pushing him into the dirt this time.

_I couldn't HELP it Jacob!_ I all but howled. Now we were in the forest, I knew this because he had me slammed up against a tree. That didn't last long. I jumped up, jumping on him.

_Jacob, Paul, Enough! _No one could disobey that voice, the Alpha. It sucked. If I could just bite one of his legs off... _Paul, ENOUGH._ I let out a whine as I had to obey, taking a few paces back from Jacob.

I felt guilty as I felt his emotions. Hurt, loss, betrayal. Okay so the last one made me mad. _I'd say I'm sorry but I can't help it, so I'm not sorry Jacob._

_I didn't even get to..._ His thoughts trailed off. Shit. Everyone in the pack knew how much he loved her, we could see it through his eyes.

_Jacob, you know this is not Pauls fault. It's something that couldn't be helped. You're just going to have to deal with it unless she rejects him. _

_What, don't I get a choice in this?_ This whole thing pissed me off. I hated this. I started to think about how I didn't even like her, but my insides twitched. That was a lie, I did like her. Did I? I remembered how horrified she looked looking back at me after I exploded fur everywhere. My heart ached, and I felt a pull towards her. I just wanted to run to her, hold her, and tell her everything was going to be okay. What the hell?

_I think you just answered your own question. _Sam thought quietly.

Jacob whined and it was obvious to feel the pain of his hurt though he was trying to hide it.

This was going to suck. This already did suck.

Then Sam told us that Bella is at Emily's with Jared and Embry. I felt that damn pull again, that same ache all throughout my body. I started running towards the small house.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Glad you all enjoyed it!

Again, I do not own the Twilight Series in any way.

Thank god for Emily always leaving some spare shorts out in the edges of the woods by her house, I really did not feel like trotting inside naked right now. I pulled up the mesh shorts, tying them since they were a little big and meant to fit Sam. When I reached the front door I found myself hesitating a little bit. No, this was beyond stupid. I pulled it open and walked in.

I casted my eyes around not letting my muscles relax until I found her sitting at the table. She didn't look too afraid now, shook up sure. The others must of talked to her.

Embry turned to me with a huge smirk apparent on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him. If he wanted to keep his head attached to the rest of his body he'd quit with the taunting. Right now.

I turned my head when I heard someone clear their throat. I gave Emily a nod sucking in a deep breath.

Bella locked eyes with me for a moment, then turned down with her cheeks changing color into a shade of pink. I wonder if she even felt what had happened. Did she feel anything? It'd be fucking cruel if she didn't. What did I ever do in my life to deserve this...this torture?

"Muffins are ready," Emily said cheerfully. I watched as she set a huge plate stacked full in the middle of the table. "Bella help yourself."

Bella nodded, absently reaching for a muffin and nibbling at it like a bird. I took a seat next to her. "Where's Jake?" her tiny voice asked, looking up to the others and then resting her eyes on me accusingly.

That should not have hurt to hear her asking about him, that should not sting right now. And above all I should not be getting pissed about it. But I couldn't, she was sitting inches away from me and I _couldn't_ hurt her. My insides winced at what that would feel like if I did. It would fucking kill me. I shook my head quickly, knowing all but a few seconds had passed. "He's fine." Dammit, the words came out a lot harsher than I thought. "Sam is with him, he's fine," I amended trying to make my voice soft.

She tried to glare at me, at least that's what it looked like. I couldn't help but smirk. Her face softened and she looked back down at her muffin, taking more nibbles out of it.

"Do you want something to drink?" I offered, not really knowing what to say. I didn't want to leave. I was glued next to her and didn't want to be apart from her, so any excuse to stick around right now would work. Would I really have to tell about what I did?

Her eyes locked onto mine and if I could possibly melt into a little puddle it would of happened then and there. When she gave a little nod I couldn't jump up fast enough and dart into the kitchen area. Emily gave me an odd look, and guessing by the look I felt on my face she instantly understood. She gave me a smile and reached over to pat my shoulder as if to say it was going to be alright. I didn't say anything, just got a soda out of the fridge and went back to the table. "Here," I muttered as I slid it to her.

Somehow, and only Bella could do this, she nearly tumbled out of her chair by just reaching her arm across the table. I cursed to myself as I jumped up to grab a hold of her before she could hit the ground. "Watch what the hell you're doing." My voice was meant to be harsh, but it was coming out soft. There really was something wrong with me.

"I..Sorry," she looked down again. I sighed letting go of her arm I was still hanging onto. Her skin was so soft against mine, it felt...nice actually. No stop that!

I opened the soda for her, not wanting her to cut herself or something on the tab if that were even possible, but right now I was sure _anything_ was possible.

When I looked up and saw Embry and Jared giving me amused expressions, I figured I might as well talk to her at least. It wasn't their place to tell her anything but who knew with them. I glared at them, daring them to say anything. They quickly looked back down at their muffins, taking huge bites out of them.

Clearing my throat I looked down at her. "Bella when you're done will you...go for a walk with me? I want to...talk to you," it was hard getting the words out without clenching my teeth together and shutting up. Somehow the feeling of rejection was the one thing I feared the most. What would she say once I told her? Surely if she did reject me it would be for the best. I was just a wolf with a temper, I shouldn't mean anything to her.

Which brought me to my next conclusion. This imprint thing was some sort of punishment. I scrunched up my face.

"Su..sure." Bella finally stammered out, bringing me back to reality.

I nodded, sitting back at the table beside her and devouring my share of the muffins in front of me. You had to be quick around here or everyone else would gobble everything up, and I sure as hell couldn't cook. I could burn instant mac & cheese in the microwave, I really shouldn't even be allowed in a kitchen.

When she finished I stood up, offering my hand to help her up. She took my hand after looking at it for a few seconds and I pulled her up gently. I lead her outside in silence and off the porch.

"Whats going on?" She finally broke the silence and asked in a quiet voice. If I was in my wolf form my ears would of lowered and tail would of went between my legs hearing how...scared was it? she was.

I still hadn't let go of her arm but I was careful on how hard I was holding onto it. A first, having to make sure my grip was soft. I would of snorted at the thought in any other circumstance.

"Do you know why we exist?" I asked, keeping my voice cool. "Us werewolves, I mean."

I snuck a quick glance down at her, hiding a smile as I looked back ahead of us. I wasn't really heading anywhere particular with her, just walking away from the house. Like I could explain all of this crap to her with Jared and Embry snickering in the background. They were both shitheads in my mind at the moment.

"Jake told me once..the legends...the cold ones, it's kind of how I figured this out," she admitted softly.

I ground my teeth together. "Yes, they're why we exist. To destroy them. They're our only enemy." My voice went flat as I explained. She gasped and I looked down at her. "Oh don't worry, your precious bloodsucking Cullens are safe," I all but spat.

I could see what the name did to her instantly. She froze and seemed like she couldn't breathe. Dammit, now what the hell did I do? I looked down at her frantically, remembering the memory from Sams mind of her being found. How lost she looked. How broken she seemed. I gulped back, stepping away from her shaking with fury.

"Bella, fucking stop! Why do you care? Look what the hell they did to you!" I yelled at her, pointing at her accusingly. How could anyone hurt her like this? It made me livid, and I imagined myself killing every single one of those filthy bloodsuckers my own self.

She looked up at me with tears threatening to leave from her eyes and trail down that beautiful face and my fury was forgotten. I instantly stepped forward and embraced her to my bare chest with my arms. I held her tightly. "No one will ever hurt you again," I murmured down to her. It broke my heart to see her cry, to hear her choke on her sob then gasp for air into my chest. I rubbed over her back slowly, squeezing my own eyes shut. "Please don't cry Bella," I pleaded in a whisper. This hurt way too much, more than I ever could imagine.

This, this right here, was way more than I ever bargained for.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I do not own the Twilight series in anyway.

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><p>We walked down the path to the beach quietly. My hands were at my sides fighting the urge to hold onto her. She was a menace to herself, tripping and wobbling around every now and then. She <em>needed<em> me to hold onto her at all times. Hell, she fucking needed me to pick her up and carry her around. But I was good. The fact that she was still walking with me had to of meant something, I hoped. Dammit! Why did I hope?

She sighed, and my eyes scanned over her quickly. The way she had a hold of me like this...I liked it but wanted to stab myself at the same time. I was just as bad as Sam now. Wait not as bad. I would never let myself get that bad.

Finally we reached the beach. The sun was on it's way down but it hadn't quite started to get dark yet. It really didn't matter if it was dark or not anyhow, I could see easily through it.

When Bella stopped walking I stopped, looking down at her. She looked...well she looked gorgeous. There was something I never in my life thought I would apply to Bella Swan. Sure she wasn't bad looking, but until I met eye contact with her and this damn imprint thing happened I never really saw her. Now she was all I saw.

She blushed and quickly looked down, noticing me studying her face. I had to smile, I couldn't help but smile. I reached a hand up to her face to let my fingers brush across the new color to her cheek. It only caused more heat to flood there. Probably because I was running a fever of 108 all the time. The feel of her warm skin...ugh. So soft, so perfect.

"Bella," I started, not able to help the sound of my voice. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to tell her, but I figured I should. She had a right to know. Plus the sooner I told her the sooner she could reject my ass, and the sooner I could go back to my normal life. The pain in that thought was too real for my liking, causing my insides to flinch. Okay, maybe not a normal life. Somehow I knew I would be missing her like crazy. Would this EVER end? "I...need..." I squeezed my eyes shut with a groan. I couldn't do this right now. The damn fear of her laughing at me and running away from me was too much to bear. When I opened my eyes she was looking at me with big curious eyes. "Nevermind," I muttered to her then turned to walk away.

I could hear her walking behind me and I slowed down so she would reach my side. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but I just couldn't. Not right now.

"Here, I should probably get you back," I mumbled suddenly. I couldn't do this tonight. How much could this poor girl take anyway? I turned to her just to see her nod a little. My hand found her arm and I gently grabbed it to lead her back. She didn't protest, and I could of swore she was fighting to move closer to me. Probably because I was so warm I bet. I took a chance, putting my arm around her. She shivered into my touch, moving closer to my side. Yep, I was right. And now my mind was going wild, but I focused and was able to get her back into her truck safely.

"I'll...see you around." With a sigh and avoiding looking at her I turned and jogged off into the woods, though my body and mind and entire fucking existance screamed in protest.

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><p>That night I just couldn't get my ass to sleep. How the hell could I sleep with me worrying? I had no fucking clue who I was turning into. It was like my insides had been frozen all my life up until now, and now they were thawing. And I had more feelings than I knew what to do with.<p>

I threw myself against the bed with a thud and stared up at the ceiling. After a good hour of not being able to sleep and my mind running wild I jumped out of bed. I wasn't doing any good here. When I was out the door and running through the woods I knew exactly where I was going.

There her house was. Only two lights were on, the porch light and the one in the area I figured was her bedroom. I only guessed it by the color of the curtains. I kept myself hidden in the trees, laying down on my stomach. My head lay on my front two paws. My eyes looked up into the window, wondering what she was doing still up. It was late. I had to stop this, it wasn't any of my business, nor should I be here, nor should I be worrying.

_It's the imprint, and you're already whipped. _Embry invaded my head.

_Get the hell out of my head, ass. _I snarled. Oh shit. My eyes darted up and I listened for any movement. Good, must have been quiet enough for anyone not to hear in the house. _Shouldn't you be in bed or something?_

_Sam has me on patrol tonight. Shouldn't YOU be asleep? _His thoughts had humor in them, and if he would have been here I would take a snap at him. _Nice._

My eyes saw the flicker when the light in the house went off, and I settled my head back into my paws again. _Go run your patrol._

He must of not saw anything else in my head except for the exhaustion because he left me alone. Figuring Bella must of went to sleep I tried again. Weird how I could easily fall asleep just knowing I was close to her. I'd kick my ass in the morning for it.

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><p>When I passed out I must of really passed out. I hoped to of woken up early enough I could run off before she even left the house. But instead I was awoken by footsteps.<p>

I quickly lifted my head and jumped up on my four legs, ready to growl and run off. If it had been Charlie he would of shot me. But my eyes focused on the brunette who looked at me with wide eyes. How in the world did she know I was out here?

Huffing a sigh, I was damn glad I had fur covering my cheeks. Embarrassment? I really was losing my mind.

But she reached out a hand to me as I was taking a step back. Her features weren't showing any signs of fear, just pure curiosity.

I stared at her for a moment before, slowly, taking a small stride forward at the same time she took one. I took one more, tilting my big head at her some. She reached up and pressed her palm to the side of my face, some of my fur ending up in her fingers.

I had to bark a small laugh, but quickly stopped when she jumped back a bit. I shook my head some, taking a cautious step to her. She did it again and smiled. This was beyond weird, she was fucking petting me. I fought the urge to laugh again, not wanting to scare her. Instead I ducked my head a little so she could pet me some more.

"Paul?" her voice all but squeaked.

I looked up at her, nodding my big head once.

"What's going on between us?" she whispered.

Was she really expecting an answer? Like I could really fucking talk, and right now I was glad I couldn't. The only thing I knew how to do was bark, ha, growl and whine.

"I..I feel something." Her wide brown eyes were looking down at her.

I pranced around a little around her, stretching my front legs out and lowering my front half down. I nodded back, motioning for her to hop on. I didn't have a reason why she should trust me, and she should of just walked away. It would have been better if she would have just walked away.

Of course she didn't! I couldn't deny that I was glad that she didn't, though. I knew I would of ran off pissed at myself for some damn reason if she did.

She climbed on my back carefully. I stood up slowly and carefully. I felt her hands grip the hair on the back near my neck to hold on. I did what was supposed to be a grin, but I imagined what it looked like and figured it was scary so I let my lips fall back over my long teeth.

I wish I could of said hold on, but I think she got it. I turned and started a slow pace into the woods.

What the hell was I doing again?


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah, it's been a LONG time! Life gets in the way, especially when you have children to keep you on your toes. My goal is to finish the stories I've started. Hopefully this can make sense with the first few chapters since it has been a while. Thanks to anyone who reads this and please review to let me know your thoughts! I want to make sure it's worth it to finish this story so I would like to know if I have at least a few readers interested in what happens with these two!

Do not own Twilight, this is just one of my many versions :)

I was going at a common pace, while I was fighting with my mind. What the hell was I doing? I huffed. I guess it didn't matter anymore. There was no point in fighting the pull or whatever the hell was pushing me towards this clumsy vampire loving girl.

"You know, Paul, you can go faster. I'm sort of used to...fast pace." Bella sounded like she was reluctant to say the last bit, and to be honest I was kind of pissed to be reminded that she once loved a reeking bloodsucker. My heart constricted, could she love me more? What the fuck was I thinking.

I turned my big fuzzy head the best I could to look up at her, trying to convey the message to hold on tight. She must have gotten it because her grip in my grey fur tightened. If she wanted speed like a vampire well who the fuck was I to deny her that?

I started getting faster and faster until I was pushing myself. I couldn't go as fast as my body would let me, some stupid ass battle in my mind fearing for my Bellas safety. Wait, what the hell, MY Bella? Just a few days ago she was Jakes Bella. I didn't have a right to make that claim but the thought of her belonging to anyone else was absurd, it couldn't exist, I would NOT allow it. Suddenly I knew I would NOT survive without her. Dammit to my choices being taken away. Yeah, I had a right to be fucking bitter.

I heard her gasp and laugh as I was running. It somehow relaxed me, to know she was at least enjoying herself some. It calmed me to the core, if that were even possible. At first I had no idea where to head, but I knew we should at least talk. I still owed her an explanation, even if just for why the hell I was stalking her house. I just had to cling to the hope that she would somehow understand. Being a werewolf was weird as fucking hell, and the imprinting thing was even weirder. I never believed in love at first sight, but I guess Sam and Emily were proof that it did exist.

"PAUL! Watch out!" Bella suddenly screamed.

I must have been too busy thinking as I almost took out a damn tree. Fuck! I jumped last second but Bella went flying across the forest floor. In just a few seconds I was phasing back to my own two legs, pulling up my shorts, and running towards her.

"Fuck Bella, are you okay?!" I yelled panicked. I squatted down to her level to get a good look. It was obvious in just one glance she had scraped her hands and her jeans were ripped at her knees, she had dirt on her face, but overall looked okay.

Knowing that I did this to her, however, was causing an internal battle within myself. I should just leave for good, she would be better off. Dammit! I should have been more careful.

Bella must have noticed and she rested one of her hands on my chest shakily. "I'm okay Paul, calm down." She said softly and a little shakily.

That one little touch did the trick. I nodded, taking in a deep breath letting her slightly cooler touch work its magic. It was amazing, within a few short seconds I wasn't trembling anymore with anger at myself, I was surprisingly calm.

She looked down at her hands then at her knees, removing her hand that I quickly missed. "I'm okay, nothing a few bandaids won't fix." She tried to give me a small grin but still looked dazed. I couldn't help but give a small grin back, it was like a reflex.

"I'm sorry, I guess no more wolf riding for you." I mumbled, standing up and offering a hand down to her for her to take.

She snorted and took my hand. I pulled her up easily. "Are you kidding? That was the most fun I've had since Jake ditched me."

I had to snort back. She had to be fucking kidding me. "Jake was right, you are strange." I reached over and brushed some dirt off of her face. "Come on, were not far from Emily and Sams place, lets see about them bandaids." I nodded towards the way we should take, not willing to risk another distracted run with her on my fuzzy back.

She nodded and started to follow me. We shared a comfortable silence for a few minutes and I enjoyed the small piece. This was nice. I was at ease with her, my whole being getting what it needed, for now, just by being close. But I knew it would not last for long, when did anything peaceful ever fucking last? The whole conversation they needed to have was brewing, all in her first simple question.

"Paul...what is going on between us?" It was a simple question but I still felt some nerves come from within me at it. Any normal person would run far away while laughing at me when I explained what I needed to, and that was what I was afraid of. Of course that was fucking annoying in itself. I was never afraid of anything until this insignificant little girl came along and disrupted my life.

I sighed and rubbed my temples, her heavy footfalls right behind me stumbling a little now and then. I was ready to catch her from crashing into the forest floor again if needed. This girl was a freaking danger to herself. "This is going to sound fucking bizarre, and insane...but just hear me out before you go running for the hills, ok?" I glanced back to meet her gaze, only continuing when she gave me a small nod. "You already know I'm a werewolf, I know, luck me." I rolled my eyes. "As if that weren't weird enough us werewolves can imprint on a girl. It's supposed to be rare...but so is turning into a fucking giant beast so I guess I shouldn't be surprised." I caught a quick glimpse of her. We had both pretty much stopped walking and I just turned around to face her.

"When one of us imprints its like..." I paused trying to think of the best words without sounding like some sort of cheeseball. I was never one for romantics. "The world stops. Nothing else matters, but her. We become whatever they want us to be. Best friend, brother, lover...whatever. Being away from her causes pain." I sighed and stopped waiting for her reaction.

Bella looked a little dumbfounded then realization washed over her. I let out a breath of relief I didn't even know I was holding. Whether she rejected me or not she at least knew.

"So...you imprinted on me?" I nodded to confirm and looked down at the dirt and my bare feet. "How?" She sounded shocked which kind of angered me. I had to make myself realize that this wasn't her fault. Well, it wasn't my fucking fault either but still, I was the damn giant furball in this situation.

I shrugged and glanced back up. "I don't know. It's just something we can do. It's supposed to be finding your soul mate." I had to snort at how cheesy that sounded. "You have some power over me Isabella, power that I don't want you to fucking have but it's there. You have a choice." I was terrified of that choice.

She swallowed then nodded. "I don't know what to say...I mean...I love...well you know." He wince didn't go unnoticed when she almost said that leeches name. I bit back a growl.

"I know. I guess just think about it." I was trying to act nonchalant but knowing she could reject me fucking hurt more than I wanted it to. I nodded towards the way we were headed before. "Lets go get those bandaids."

She nodded and followed me. Silence washed over us again but this time it was more awkward, but I suppose that couldn't of been helped. Within ten minutes the small house was in view. Growls started erupting from my chest at who I saw standing outside waiting for us with a tense look on his face.

Fucking Jacob Black. What the hell did he want?


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for the reviews :) Here's chapter 5. I did some planning yesterday on where I wanted this story to go. Hope you all like it. It is kind of a boring chapter, in my opinion, but I thought it was crucial to get some of the information out for later delopments. I promise we are steering off course from a more predictable storyline, just have to get some things out of the way first.

Nope, I still do not own Twilight.

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><p>I glared into the tense eyes on Jacobs even more tense face. "What the fuck do you want?" He already knew that I imprinted on Bella, there was nothing he could do. Well, unless she chose him. No, that couldn't fucking happen. It caused me to growl until a small warm hand was placed on my shoulder. I nodded at the gesture and took a deep breath, my eyes not once looking away from my 'brother' in front of me. "Well?"<p>

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Someone has to make sure you don't lose control." He half smirked at his words, obviously playing on the fact that I am the most unstable out of the whole pack.

"Fuck you, you know that's not possible." I spat and went to walk around him, reaching behind me to grab onto Bella's hand to lead her into the house. I didn't feel bad about dragging her away from her friend, knowing damn well the idiot would follow behind me like a lost puppy pining. "Emily? Do you have some bandaids?" I cringed knowing that I just proved that I could hurt Bella, but it wasn't in the way Jacob was obviously thinking.

"See?! What the fuck did you do?" He gripped onto Bella and spun her around to look her over, studying on her hands and knees. "She's bleeding." He stared accusingly at me.

Bella surprised me and jerked away from Jake. "Shut up Jacob. I, uh, tripped. You know me, clumsy little human. Paul brought me here to get patched up." I smirked, appreciating the little lie but the pack would know damn well what happened the next time I phased.

I glared at Jacob and grabbed onto her wrist gently again. Emily appeared after a moment with a smile, obviously having heard me as she had some bandaids and peroxide in her hands. "Come on Bella, lets go to the bathroom and get those wounds cleaned." I reluctantly let go of her as Emily lead her into the small bathroom.

Hearing Jake sigh I turned around to face him. I had to admit that I hated to hurt him like this but dammit this was NOT my fault. He eventually shook his head. "Look, I don't like this but I know you can't help it. I take it she knows now?"

I nodded once. "I told her to think about it, as stupid as that sounds. This is all weird as fuck for me too. Right now I wouldn't even call us friends." I gritted my teeth at the last of my words. I had no damn idea how this all would work out, even if it would at all. I had thought about running, taking myself out of the equation completely, but I could not do that yet, not when we were still chasing the red headed leech. "Anyway, any new updates on the bloodsucker search?" I changed the subject as I went to sit down. Jacob followed.

"No, we keep chasing the same trails." He sighed, obviously frustrated with everything as well.

Bella came back out in that moment, a little sheepish she had to be 'patched up' I guessed. I gave her what I hoped was a small warm smile. She returned it after a moment of shock. She sat down in the chair next to me. It calmed me with the feeling she was next to me. My eyes lingered on hers for a moment before I looked back to Jake. "So where's Sam?"

"Running a quick perimeter, he should be here soon. We're going to have to change strategy or were never going to get her."

"What are you guys talking about?" Bella asked curiously.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "You really want to know?" She nodded once. "You remember the leech with the dreads?" I assumed she put two and two together, figuring out that we killed the vampire that looked to about drain her in the empty meadow days ago. She gulped and nodded silently. "We killed him, it didn't look like you two were best buds anyway. Apparently our legends are correct when it comes to killing a vampires mate. This red headed bitch keeps coming back." I gritted my teeth at that. I was pissed she kept avoiding us. I just wanted her gone so I could sleep normally again.

I noticed Bella white as a ghost. "Fuck, whats wrong?" I shouted, reaching out to touch her. What the fuck did I say? "Was the leech we killed your friend? Fuck, it looked like he was going to drain you."

She shook her head quickly. "Victoria...the...the red head. Her names Victoria. And Laurent was not her mate." She whispered. If it were not for my supernatural hearing I might no have caught it all.

"Well then what the fuck does she want? And dammit what the hell did I do?!" I was panicking.

She snapped out of it and met my dark gaze. "She's after me Paul."

Her words hang in the air for a while. I kept starting to tremble, getting pissed and upset, and a million different emotions I never knew I was capable of were running through me. Bella kept touching my hand for a few brief seconds when she noticed to calm me down. "Why?" Jake finally came through and asked. I figured he was going through the same pissed shock.

I focused while Bella explained quietly. Leave it to the fucking Cullens to leave their mess to clean up. They should have known better their own kind and caught this, but they didn't. They left Bella behind, in danger. I growled, surprising her but she didn't make to move.

Sam, Jared, and Embry made their way into the house. I looked darkly at them and Sam knew immediately I had not so good information to share. Thank god Emily piped up. "Bella? Would you help me in the kitchen while the boys talk?" Her smile was warming. Bella nodded and went to follow her.

I turned to Jake and nodded for him to explain. I was going to do well to listen again without exploding into my wolf form, let alone re tell it.

Sam sat quietly as Jake explained, though the rest of the pack held the same shocked and outraged expression I had held when I first heard it.

"Looks like we need a new plan. This is good, Paul and Jacob, if you think about it. With knowing what the red head wants we can come up a plan that will work." He sounded confident but I just shook my head quickly. I didn't see how knowing that she was after Bella made this any better.

In one look I had found my world changing, revolving only around her. I was just starting to grasp the concept. And now there if we failed to do what we were made for I could lose it. This was a true fuck my life moment.


	6. Chapter 6

There's going to be a few things coming for these two. Some may not like it but it's important that things happen this way. I promise the end result will be totally worth it :)

Still don't own Twilight.

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><p>Bella and Emily laid out plate upon plate full of sandwiches and various finger foods for us all to shovel down for lunch. Bella was more pale than usual, no doubt terrified. I was thankful Emily had taken her under her wing. I overheard some of their conversation. No doubt it was nice for Emily to have someone to talk to about everything. No one else aside from the elders, us wolves, and our imprints could know the whole truth. What went bump in the night deep in the forest, what mythical monsters actually existed. Now Emily had Bella, who I was sure would be a fast friend. I felt some remorse, not only was my choices taken away - now Bella's were too. But then she kind of lost that right when she decided to run with vampires.<p>

The pack, myself included, all discussed strategies in low voices while the two females in the house threw together lunch. When everything on the table was devoured I offered to take Bella home. Jake threw me the keys to his beloved rabbit. "It'll take forever to walk back." He muttered. I smirked, glad that he was slowly coming around.

I nodded towards the door and held it open for Bella. "Bye Jake, I'll see you later?" She asked quietly.

"Of course. We want you on the reservation as much as possible until we catch the red head. We'll make sure one of us is with you at all times so you won't be alone. We'll also watch over Charlie and the house when you are there. It'll be okay Bells." The plan was when I wasn't on patrol Jake would be with Bella, and vice versa, but as much as it pained me I didn't know if she wanted to be with me all the time - at least not let when I just gave her a ton of shit to think about.

She gave him a small smile and went outside, I followed. "Are you alright?" I asked, surprising myself that I actually did care. Fucking new feelings.

She sighed as she stood by the car, not lifting her head up to meet my gaze. "I've been waiting every night for her to come and get me, and praying that she would spare Charlie. I won't be okay until she is gone." There was a touch of bitterness to her words, I wondered idly if it was because the Cullens had left this mess for everyone else to fucking clean up.

I nodded and rested my hand on her shoulder. "I promise we will get her, okay? She will not lay one fucking hand on you, or Charlie for that matter. No one will hurt you ever again." That was one promise I was bound determined to keep no matter what.

She slowly lifted her head up, turned around, and met my gaze. Damn, her eyes were beautiful. Everything about her was anymore. It was like I could see through her and deep inside her soul. "But what if you get hurt, Paul? Or Jake? Or Sam? Or anybody." She sighed. "I could not bear it if anyone else got hurt because of my stupid choices."

She was worried that I would get hurt? I had to laugh, even if I was oddly touched by the sentiment, I knew she really meant it. No one had ever really cared before, well aside from the rest of the pack. "Isabella please have a little more faith in us. This is why we exist. But we'll be careful." I threw in a playful wink. "Get in the car so I can get you home to Charlie." I saw her roll her eyes once but the anxiety was still apparent on her feaures.

Once she was in the passenger seat I started the car and pulled onto the road. She was silent as we headed away from the reservation and into Forks. "I'll be in the woods by your house tonight to keep watch." I stated after several minutes. I didn't want her thinking that I was stalking her or some shit, not that she really had a choice. It was annoying that my whole fucking existence was keeping her safe and happy all of a sudden. It would definitely take some time getting used to, but I surprised myself taking this all in some ease. Bella was not that bad, in fact as time went on I found myself diving head first for her.

"You can uh...come in through my bedroom window after Charlie is asleep, if you want. It's cold and wet outside." She looked away from me with a beautiful, ugh, blush creeping onto her cheeks.

I chuckled. "The cold doesn't bother me, but it does get boring sometimes. Okay." I don't know why the fuck I agreed to it. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see her smiling. Maybe this wasn't such a lost cause. Maybe she was starting to feel something for me too. Hey, a wolf could hope.

I pulled up in front of her house, noticing the police cruiser in the driveway. "I'll see you later then. You better get inside before your father sees me. Having to explain to him that I brought you home." I scowled to myself. Charlie was not too fond of me, thought of me too much of a 'bad boy' since I was fighting all the time in school. Little did he know it was just me being pissed off at the world that I had to carry the wolf gene, that the Cullens had to move back to Forks, that my life was ruined because of it. I didn't think that my life was ruined so much anymore but I was still bitter. I was never the greatest kid to begin with, anyway.

She blushed again and nodded. "Bye Paul." She said as she opened the door.

I nodded my other goodbye and as soon as the passenger door was shut I was heading back towards the reservation. I could hardly stand the slow drive back, the anxiety building the further away I got from my Isabella. I scowled, that still sounded weird. I knew I wouldn't be at peace until I was near her again.


	7. Chapter 7

Two chapters in one night, I'm on a roll! Please read and review so I know the story is worth to continue :)

Nope, do not own Twilight.

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><p>Sam demanded a meeting of sorts as soon as I got back just to go over a few things. I stood there with the rest of the pack fidgeting and getting more pissed off by the second. This was shit we had already discussed, well except for the part that Quil and Seth showed signs of phasing. We were all a little dumbfounded and saddened by it, especially about Seth. He was so young, happy and care free. It was going to fucking suck to have him burdened by this. It made no sense, we were only chasing one lonely vampire. The Cullen bloodsuckers had left town. But when they were here it had set everything in motion, triggered the gene that us oh so lucky ones had and there was no stopping it now. We just hoped it would stop with Quil and Seth.<p>

"Are we done now?" I spat after Sam had quit speaking, finally.

He sighed and glared at me. "Everyone else can go but Paul. Jacob and Jared, remember you're on patrol. Alert us if you find anything. You'll trade off with me and Embry later." They all nodded, giving me a smug look like I was in trouble. I scowled right back. Assholes. As soon as they were out of sight he looked back to me. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, and to tell you to be patient with Bella."

I rolled my eyes. "I told her this afternoon. She's shocked, didn't offer me much into her thoughts." I shrugged, trying to act like I did care, but I knew I wasn't fooling anyone - not even myself. The waiting was fucking torture. If she was going to reject me from her life I felt like she should just do it already.

Sam chuckled and shook his head. "You only told her today, like I said be patient. The imprint works both ways, she feels it too, but she has been through a lot. She was like a zombie when the Cullen's had left. She was just getting better when she started hanging out with Jake. Stop growling." He narrowed his eyes and I stopped the continuous growl that had started when he mentioned the damn bloodsuckers name.

I just simply nodded. "Can I go now?" I was anxious as hell to get back to her house and even more anxious to be in her bedroom with her.

He nodded. "Phase if you see or find a new scent." I heard him call out but as soon as he had given me the okay I was running deeper into the forest, stripping as I did. I made sure to tie my shorts to my ankle before I let the trembling overtake me. I took off towards Bella's house. It wasn't until I was in the woods in the back yard that I could calm down. I could hear the television still on so I just laid down and waited for Charlie to go to sleep. The laying down didn't last long as I found myself pacing between two trees back and forth.

Then the scent hit me. Fuck! I did not give a rats ass if Charlie saw a huge ass wolf sniffing the ground in his back yard right about now. The fucking stinky ass sickly sweet smell was leading straight for the side of the house Bella's room was at. I growled and quickly phased, pulling up my shorts and climbing the tree. I was relieved for a second to see she had left the window open and without giving it a second thought hurled myself inside, landing quietly on the balls of my dirty bare feet. I almost choked on a growl as the scent got stronger inside of her room. How in the fucking world did we miss this shit?!

I followed it around the room and was sniffing one of her pillows when she walked in. I was still holding the pillow to my nose as I turned around to meet her gaze. She was standing shocked, open mouthed.

"Wh-what are you doing?" She whispered as she stepped closer after shutting the door behind her.

"A fucking vampire has been in here. Is it your precious Cullen's that you failed to mention to me?" I hissed. I regretted it immediately as the hurt went over her face.

"Of course not. They don't want me." She muttered pathetically. I didn't have time to comfort her right now.

"Well someone has been in here." I put her pillow back and ran a shaky hand through my hair. "I'll be right back." I didn't give a backwards glance as I jumped back out the window and started stripping as I ran into the woods to phase.

_Hey, vampire scent inside Bella's room!_ I shouted as loud as I fucking could in my head as I started to run a perimeter around her house as far as I could without letting the house get out of my sight.

_Dammit! Okay, headed your way Paul._ Jacob said and I could see the forest fly by him through his eyes.

_You stay outside behind her house, I'll be inside. That way we don't fucking miss something again._ The scent was leading away from her house and I huffed as I headed back. _I don't want to leave her alone, but we need to watch the forest too. Jared let Sam know what's going on. The scent was fresh but it's not the same as the red heads._

_Be there in a few minutes, and Paul quit being mean to her. She's been through enough_. Jacob thought bitterly my way. I was assaulted by the thoughts of him thinking she would be better with him.

_Do not even fucking go there with me Jacob Black!_ I growled.

I didn't give him a chance to respond as I phased back and ran back to the house. I hurled myself back up into the tree and into her room. My eyes darted around until I found her curled up on her bed, sniffling. My heart nearly sank right to the floor at the sight, knowing that I had a lot to do with it. "Hey...don't cry." I said softly. I sighed as I went to the side of the bed and climbed in beside her. I pulled her into my arms. "I'm sorry Bella. If you have not noticed I have some anger issues. I'm working on it though."

She sniffled in response. I thought it was progress that she didn't fight to get out of my arms. Hell, maybe this would all work out anyway. "I'm just not...he didn't want me...and now everyones in danger." She whimpered with her eyes closed.

I reached a hand up and wiped the few tears that still managed to escape away under her eyes with my thumb. I had to remind myself to bite my tongue and not let the anger get control of me. Bella in my arms felt so...right. I felt at home, or at least the closest to home I could be considering she was talking about her ex vampire boyfriend and there were now at least two vampires to chase the fuck down. "He obviously didn't see you very clearly. And we will get this figured out. I told you no one will fucking hurt you ever again. Do not make me repeat myself, just...trust me, okay?"

I looked down at her, pleading in some way. She finally opened her chocolate brown eyes and met my gaze. "Okay." She whispered.

I felt like I had at least accomplished something. Maybe this was not just a freaking lost cause. I had calmed her down, comforted her. Me comforting someone, now there was something hilarious. I nodded looking her over, frowning as I saw the dark circles under her eyes. Had they always been there? I must have been too fucking caught up in la la love land to notice before. "You look exhausted, come on, lay down."

I went to get out of bed when she had her hands in a death grip around my arm and large pleading eyes. "Lay with me until I fall asleep?" She asked in a small voice, though she was starting to blush. "I feel safe, for once, right now. And you're really warm." She blushed deeper.

I smirked at her. "It's a wolf thing being warm. Yeah, scoot over." It was a bad idea in so many ways to lay down next to her. One, I was exhausted and would probably fall asleep when I should be standing by in case something were to happen. And two, who knows what the fuck might run through my mind and torment me being curled up with my imprint. Oh well, I guess it didn't matter, and this was what she needed right now. I was here to give her what she needed.

As soon as she had scooted over I laid down next to her, my arm going behind her. I pulled the blanket up around us. "Sleep, Isabella." I whispered. She surprised me putting her arm over me and resting her head on my chest. I breathed in, smiling to myself as I could smell her hair. Strawberries were suddenly my new favorite fruit.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for reading and reviewing, it means a whole lot to me to know that others are enjoying this story. I promise it's about to get hella crazy in Paul & Bella land. Enjoy!

Nope, still don't own Twilight.

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><p>I did end up falling into a deep sleep, hell it was hard not to. I was laying next to my imprint and was going on little to no sleep for the past few weeks. I woke to a tapping at the window and glared at it, especially since it was still dark outside. I was surprised to find that Bella was on her side and I was wrapped around her like ivy. Stupid subconscious me. At least I was awake before her. I gently untangled myself, careful not to wake her, and went to the window as the annoying tap went on again.<p>

I opened the window and shot a death glare at who was hanging from the sill. "This better be fucking good, like you telling me that you know where the bloodsucker is." I hissed.

"Worse. I just thought you would like to know that Charlie is awake in his room, snoring stopped a few minutes ago. That is unless you wanted to be caught in bed with his daughter." Jared snickered.

"Well hell." I glanced at Bella over my shoulder, finding she was still out cold, and hearing footsteps coming closer I just jumped out the window. Jared went to laugh at me before I reached over to smack him. "Shut it." I whispered, knowing Charlie was checking in on his daughter. I stood against the siding of the house like a criminal and let out a sigh of relief when I heard the door close. "Get your ass back in the trees. I'll meet you in a few." I was already climbing back in the tree and into the window.

I glanced out the window seeing the cruiser pull away and I sighed. It was Monday, meaning Bella had school. I glanced at the alarm clock. 5:30 in the morning. Surely that was too early, or maybe that was just an excuse to climb back into bed for a few more minutes. I was so damn thankful that an alarm went off a half hour later since I fell back asleep. Bella looked around dazed as I groaned and sat up slowly, detangling myself once again. I could get used to this. She blushed a deep red as she realized I was still in bed with her. I smirked. "Sleep well?"

"No nightmares." She stated, surprised.

I quirked an eyebrow. "You normally have nightmares?"

She nodded once. "Yeah. I usually wake up screaming...Charlie stopped checking on me a while ago." She still sounded surprised, then blushed again as she looked at me. "You look better. The circles under your eyes are gone."

I was still frowning somewhat at her confession of nightmares. What the fuck did those bloodsuckers do to her? I touched my eyes and shrugged. "I didn't know I had any, but thanks for telling me I looked like hell yesterday." I smirked and stood up, stretching. "Go get ready for school."

If it were even fucking possible she blushed even more. Dammit, that blush did things to me. Damn her already having a tight hold of me.

She went into her closet, grabbed what looked to be like jeans and a t-shirt, then disappeared into what I assumed was the bathroom. I moseyed on downstairs and into the kitchen. I never could fucking cook so I just poured her some cereal and set the milk out for her so the fruit loops wouldn't get soggy. I sat across from it, wondering idly if it would be rude to get myself a bowl. My stomach was already growling. I groaned. Fuck it, I would replace the damn fruity o shapes if she had a problem. I dumped some into a second bowl and ate. Fuck hunting and eating food raw. I knew I wouldn't have time for a real meal until later.

Bella came down ten minutes later and gave me a warm smile. She looked so much better, well rested. I took pride in knowing that I had at least done something right. She raised an eyebrow at me eating. I just shrugged. "Sorry," I mumbled, "I won't have time to eat for a while."

"I don't mind. I was just thinking about yesterday and how much food you guys all put away. Where does it go?" She was looking at me so curiously I had to laugh.

I patted my flat stomach. "Wolf thing I guess. I figure it takes a lot of energy to be what we are. We are the tribe protectors." I rolled my eyes at the name, it was kind of cheesy, but it was taken seriously. "We run on little sleep, and run around as giant ass dogs all day. Need our energy." I smirked.

She sat down and started eating her cereal. "Did you guys find out who the other scent belonged to?" It was an innocent question, but I could hear the hope behind her words.

Hope that one of the Cullen's had come to check on her. Hope that they were fucking back. I gripped onto the table, the shaking already starting to take over my body. "No." I spat. "We checked the Cullen house, no ones fucking back, sorry to disappoint you." I stood up abruptly and slammed the chair back into place, causing the whole table to shake.

I could see her wide eyed expression to my outburst through my red hazed vision. I was fucking stupid to think that maybe this could all work out. Fucking stupid to even imprint on Isabella Swan, the girl who dated a fucking vampire and still loved them dearly. Still loved them even after they left her a complete wreck. A complete wreck for me to imprint on and have to fucking deal with and fix.

I was shaking violently now as everything went through my mind, the red haze had almost taken over. I didn't even notice Jacob and Jared coming in to pull me out of the house. Barely heard their words as they begged for me to calm down. "NO, Fuck this!" I shouted before my body was shifting, my good shorts tearing into a million pieces and landing on the lawn. I took off tore the woods, hoping to God I would find a fucking vampire so I could tear them limb to limb.


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter is in Bella's point of view. I wanted to write the whole thing in Paul's point of view and maybe add some re done chapters later in Bella's but I think it might be important to get inside her head and see what she's thinking. I thought that with what was going to happen in this chapter this would be perfect. This might happen every few chapters just to get a feel for her thoughts and point of view. Hope you like it! Please r&r.

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>I stared open mouthed at the front door where Paul was just drug out of the house. I couldn't hold back my tears and just let go, sobbing into my hands. He didn't want me, just like...Edward. It still hurt to even think of his name. I did hold on to some small hope that the vampire that was in my room was him, but it was mostly because I was afraid for it to be anyone else. If the Cullen's had not come back then it just meant me, little ol' Bella Swan, was working her danger magnet powers once again. I was going to end up getting myself and Charlie killed.<p>

Warm hands were on my shoulders and I jumped up and jerked around. Paul was shaking so horribly, I was honestly as afraid as I would have been if it were Victoria standing there. I let out a sigh of relief seeing it was just Jacob. Then I continued crying as he held me. A few minutes later the anger surged through me and I pulled back, looking up at my best friend. "What the hell is his problem?" I glared, wanting answers now. I never asked for this imprinting thing, either, and I still wasn't sure what to make of it. I felt this pull towards him, I felt better around him - complete in some way, but he was such an asshole sometimes.

Jacob sighed and let his arms fall. "He doesn't know what to do with himself. I've been inside of his head. He won't admit it but he's afraid he will never be enough for you." He smiled wryly down at me and I knew that just days ago Jacob had thought the same thing. I felt bad for him. I knew he wanted more when we were friend but I just couldn't...I still didn't know if I could even with Paul, my supposed imprint. I scowled. "He knew how broken up you were when...well you know..left. He knows how much you loved him, and out of all of us he was the one who hated the idea of imprinting the most. He'll come around. You are exactly what he needs." He laughed lightly. "Someone to calm him down, you're his opposite. I still don't like it...but it's kind of perfect."

I held up my hand for him to shut up. I didn't want to think about this anymore. "Well, tell Paul to stay the hell away from me right now. You or someone else can sit in the woods." I didn't like the idea of any of them putting themselves in harms way but I knew my telling them not to would't do any good. "I have to get to school." I mumbled and grabbed my bag and keys then was out the door.

The school day passed in a blur. I was sitting at the table with my 'friends' but was quiet. The look on my face must have told everyone not to bother me since Mike didn't even pester me much today. I heard Jessica mumble something to Lauren that I must be looking for attention again. I rolled my eyes.

After school I went home, made dinner for Charlie and myself, did my homework, then went to bed. I didn't go to La Push even though I knew I should have since it was agreed upon but I figured if Victoria was going to get me she would get me anyway. My only regret was Charlie. How could I protect him?

The nightmares returned that night. I woke up gasping in the middle of the night wishing that Paul was here, but I shoved that thought back down as quickly as it came. No. I tossed and turned, hoping to go back to sleep.

The next two days were much the same but there was this uneasiness inside me, this yearning, and I figured that was the pull. I needed to be near him but wouldn't allow myself to. By the end of the school day I didn't want to go home. Charlie would be working late anyway. I decided to do something Jacob had promised me weeks ago he would do with me. I would go cliff diving. I was startled as my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and saw it was Jake. "Jacob?" It as like I already knew something was wrong. I felt sick and my knees felt weak.

"We caught the red heads scent. I know you don't want to but please come to La Push. We're all trying to catch her, end this for good this time." His words were rushed.

I could feel all of the blood draining from my face. Victoria. Here. Now. Paul and Jacob chasing her. I suddenly wished I would have saw Paul, even if he was an unpredictable asshole. "Be careful." I whispered.

"Yeah yeah, one of us will come get you at Emily's. Please go straight there, Bells, you'll b safer. Go, now!"

"I'm going!" I was going, but I was still going cliff diving. I wanted to know if I could still hear his voice or if it was lost to me forever. It had been weeks, it was time. I started up my old truck and went as fast as it would let me. I parked on the side of the road where it seemed just days ago I was convinced the guys on top were trying to kill themselves. Jacob had laughed at me and told me they all jumped for fun, just lower down. I yearned for those more simple days.

I started the hike up the side of the cliffs, careful not to fall. I followed the trail all the way up. It took me a while but I smiled as I climbed up on the top, the wind hitting me in the face. I felt free, even if only for a minute. I stepped carefully towards the edge and looked down. I frowned, it was a long way down and the water looked black. I looked to the clouds and they were even darker. Maybe this wasn't the best day.

Then I heard it. The beautiful velvet voice. I had an amazing memory. "Edward." I whispered back and closed my eyes as a smile stretched over my mouth.

'Don't do this.' He begged.

"It's the only way you'll stay with me." I stepped closer to the edge. One more step...

'Bella! You promised!' He yelled inside of my mind.

"What the HELL are you doing?!" A huge growl came form behind me. I jerked my head around just in time to see Paul glaring at me before my feet slipped on that last inch and I went plunging towards the rough black waves waiting for me below. At least Edwards perfect velvet voice was screaming as I fell.


	10. Chapter 10

Back to normal for this chapter. Enjoy!

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>"FUCK!" I screamed and went diving off of the cliff after her. Was she fucking stupid? The way the water was it would kill her. Even we didn't dive off the cliff when it was brewing up a storm. I watched as she hit the water just seconds before I did. I immediately started kicking my legs up to the surface and glanced around frantically for her. She wasn't anywhere my perfect vision could see.<p>

I felt this deep dread inside of me, knowing that this was partially my fault. If I had't exploded on her earlier this week she wouldn't have been standing on the edge of a cliff talking to her ex vampire. Maybe she was crazy. I growled and dived back under the water, kicking my legs and moving my arms as hard as I could as I searched for her. I found her near the rocks, almost unconscious. Just fucking great. I yanked a hold of her and pulled us both to the surface.

She was pale, and wasn't breathing. I looked at her for a brief second in horror. How could she give up so easy?! I knew I wasn't worth it but her father, she was all he had. I shook her. "Bella! Breathe dammit! Don't do this to me!" I screamed, tears springing to my eyes that I chalked up to frustration. I gripped onto her as tight as I could and swam as fast as I could while dragging her with me towards the shore, a sinking feeling filling me more and more the longer she didn't cough or do anything.

Once on the shore I lifted her up and ran completely out of the water. I laid her down on the rocky sand and kneeled down, starting what I hoped was CPR. "Fucking BREATHE!" I screamed. She wasn't allowed to do this to me, to Jake, to Charlie.

What seemed like for fucking ever, she finally started coughing up water. I nearly dropped back in relief but steadied myself. I lifted her head up carefully off of the ground so she wouldn't swallow the damn water she choked up again. She was finally breathing, it was a little ragid, but she wasn't dead. "Can you talk?" I asked, my voice hoarse. I cleared my throat. "What the hell were you thinking?" I said a little harsher but I couldn't yell at her right now - even if I so wanted to.

"Don't know." She choked, her voice sounding like hell.

I sighed, running a hand through my wet hair. "I'm going to carry you to my house." I didn't wait for her to answer and I really wasn't fucking asking anyway. She needed some dry clothes and a trip to the emergency room. I lifted he up gently in my arms and started jogging.

I didn't tell her that we lost the red head again, and I definitely didn't want to tell her that Harry Clearwater had a heart attack and wasn't doing so good. I wasn't trying to be selfish, my first priority was making sure my imprint was okay. Fuck me and all these...feelings. I didn't know if I would ever get used to it, or ever be good enough at it. I kind of felt sorry for Bella being stuck with me. She could try to ignore me but eventually the pull would get too intense, too strong, and she would have to be near me or else she would be useless and empty inside. I saw in Sam's head how he tried to ignore the imprint, it didn't last long. This past week was hell, everything inside of me yelled at me to go to her but I knew she didn't want that - not yet. Not when I nearly exploded in her kitchen.

I slowed down when I saw my house in sight. I was always left alone, which was okay by me. My dad was MIA since I was ten and my mom worked almost non stop. We hardly saw eachother. Probably was a good thing since I spent my days running around as a giant wolf now.

I dumped Bella on the couch and set off in my bedroom to find dry clothes. I made a face as soon as I walked in. I should really do laundry and put some shit away. I shuffled through the clothes on the floor, sniffing a few shirts and finding one that smelled the most clean. I grabbed a pair of pajama pants that were folded on top of a basket then went back to the living room. I tossed the clothes at her. "Put those on. They're probably huge on you but you need to get out of those wet clothes, bathrooms down the hall to your left." I mumbled and flopped down in the chair, rubbing my temples.

I heard her get up slowly and disappear. When she returned minutes later I looked up. She was blushing as she came out in the oversized clothes. I had to smirk, it shouldn't have pleased me so much to see her in my clothes. "Do you think you need to go to the emergency room?"

She shook her head. "My throat is killing me...but I'll be okay. Just exhausted."

I nodded. "Let me phase and tell the others what happened so someone can bring your truck here. I'll get you home." I disappeared outside. As soon as I was just in the trees and out of view I stripped and phased.

As soon as I could hear the thoughts of the others I relayed the events. I could see them all mentally cringe._ I need someone to bring her truck here_.

_I'll do it, then we're all going to the Clearwaters...Paul...Harry didn't make it._

I couldn't help the howl that escaped, piercing the sky. _Dammit! I haven't told Bella yet. I'll tell her when I get her home so she can be prepared for Charlie_.

I couldn't stand their grief so I quickly phased back and pulled back on my clothes. Well this was one fucked up day. I went back inside and I nearly freaked seeing Bella on the couch with her eyes closed. After seeing her breath rise and fall for a few moments I sighed in relief. She was just asleep. I snorted at myself. I went into my bedroom again to grab a blanket and came back, laying it over her. I sat down on the floor, leaning against the couch, and closed my own eyes until Jacob got here with the truck.

I jumped up startled when someone came into the house, dazed with sleep for a moment until I shook it off. "Oh hey Jacob." I mumbled then yawned.

Jacob looked towards the couch with worry etched on his face. "Are you sure she's okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she says shes just exhausted and her throat hurts, which it would with all the salt water she swallowed." I didn't let him know I was still worried about her, how I saw my own life flash before my eyes when I thought she was dead.

I knew I wasn't fooling anyone when I looked back up to him. "She's perfect for you, you know?" I growled lowly in warning, I didn't want to hear this shit right now. "You both have your issues but that's what makes this so perfect. The more I think about it the more I realize I was never the right one. She needs you."

I just shook my head and looked down at her. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. "Yeah well, if she ever gets over loving that bloodsucker. She was talking to him on that cliff." I shook my head quickly, I wasn't allowed to get angry right now.

"That's why you're perfect for her...you're strong - you can take care of her." I shot him a warning glance to shut the hell up. He held up his hands with a small smile. "Alright alright. Keys are in the truck. Charlie's at the Clearwaters. I'll tell him you're keeping Bella company until he comes home."

I cringed then laughed. "That might make him come home sooner. But alright, I'll be over there soon."

Jacob nodded and went out the door. I went to the couch and gently shook Bella's shoulder. "Bella, lets get you home." I said lowly.

She opened her eyes and took a moment to nod once. I didn't ask, I just lifted her up blanket and all and put her in the truck outside. "I can walk." She mumbled.

As I got in the driver side and started the truck up I glared at her. "Yeah, off of cliffs into stormy water, right to your death." I shot back before I put the truck into reverse and headed into Forks.

She just huffed but didn't say anything. I noticed her shivering and put my arm around her, pulling her to my side. She looked up at me with a tiny scowl and I shrugged. "I'm hot, you're cold." I rubbed her side with my hand to prove my point. She sighed and snuggled closer, defeated. I smirked out the windshield, feeling the most at ease I had been all week.

I parked the truck in front of her house and went to open the door. Good calm mood gone, instantly. Fuck, was anything ever easy? I growled and slammed the door shut as soon as the scent hit me. Bella was looking up at me with wide eyes. "Vampire." I hissed.

She started looking around frantically as I re started the truck up and was ready to get her back to La Push. Half of me was screaming to phase and take care of the fucking vampire, but the half that was screaming and begging me to get her to safety was the one that was winning.

"Wait!" She screamed, slamming her hands on the dash. "That car! I know that car! It's Carlisle's! It's him, stop!"

I slammed on the brakes and looked at her dumbfounded. "After all of the shit they put you through, Isabella? And you want to march in there on the off chance this is NOT a trick to reunite?" My voice was surprisingly calm, but it had an angry edge to it. I could already feel my entire body vibrate. It felt like I would take a step towards her and she would shove me three more back.

She put a hand on my chest. "Paul, look at me. There has to be a reason they're here."

I looked into her chocolate brown eyes and was lost for a moment. This was my reason for existance. I finally got a fucking grip and rolled my eyes, looking ahead of me like the stubborn man I was. "Yeah, to finish what they started." I mumbled. I didn't have to look at her to know the hurt was going through her body, it's like a knife was twisting in my own heart as well. I winced. "Sorry." I turned to catch her gaze again. "Look, if they're back I can't protect you here. This is their territory. You're only safe on the reservation. And whether you fucking like it or not, you are MINE to protect - not a fucking Cullen."

She glared at me and scooted towards the passenger door. "I'm not ANYONES, I am my OWN. Fuck you Paul." The door slammed as she jumped out of it and ran inside.

I gripped a hold of the steering wheel, cursing under my breath and vibrating more and more. I stopped when I heard the steering wheel start to crack. "Well fuck." I grumbled to myself as I climbed out of the car and headed into the woods. I knew no one was phased but the trees calmed me down. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Sam's number.

"Look we got a problem. It looks as if one of the Cullen's is back. No, I don't know who. Bella went inside her house to talk to them or whatever the fuck." It hurt my soul to know it could be Edward that marched back into her life and took her away from me, just when I was starting to come to terms with her being mine. "I'm sticking around here." I growled into the reciever. "No I won't do nothing stupid, fuck off." I hung up and started heading back to the Swan house.

I had no intentions of breaking the treaty, unless someones grubby little hands were on MY Bella.


	11. Chapter 11

This is when things start to get reallllly good. I've been excited to write this chapter and the rest to come ever since I started writing this story again and pulled up the ideas and layout I wrote for it years ago. Don't worry, the end result is TOTALLY worth it :)

Still don't own Twilight.

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><p>The hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up as I got to the front door. I would never fucking forgive myself if this was a trap and Bella was in danger. All of those thoughts were erased when I walked inside and focused in on the scene in front of me.<p>

I was already growling, but seeing Edward hold Bella close to him on the couch while she bawled just made the growls ripple from my chest and out get louder and louder. He was fucking pleading with her to forgive him. "What the FUCK?" I stepped closer.

Edward stood up, shocked for a moment, but it only took a second for him to understand and I found him standing protectively in front of Bella. He crouched down, baring his teeth. "Back off, pup, you don't want to mess with me."

"Oh please." What the fuck. This whole imprinting shit got more fucked up every passing day. I doubt even Sam had it this bad. Hell, I KNOW he hadn't since I had been inside of his head. This was pure torture, especially since I knew Bella would take him back in a heart beat before she would even think about me. Jacob was so wrong.

I didn't miss the confused look on Edwards face. "Imprinting?" He whispered.

Must have forgotten that little bit of information Jacob shared with me about the reading minds shit. "Put all that shit aside, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't be here, you have no RIGHT. You fucking left."

Between the snarls ripping from Edwards mouth and my growling I couldn't hear Bella's protest, just her voice carrying through the room every now and again. If he wanted to read minds I had something to show him. I replayed back the memories Sam shared with us from when he got Bella from the woods. She looked hopeless, lost. The memories I had of Charlie coming onto the reservation defeated as he didn't know how to snap her out of the zombie like state. Jacobs memories of her being so skinny and lifeless when she first started hanging out with him.

I smirked seeing him wince. "I left to protect her. I never intended to stay away very long, I couldn't handle it. If I had known I would have came back sooner, but it doesn't take away the fact that I am here now and if she will have me I am here until she orders me away."

"The HELL you are!" I stepped towards him, teeth clenched, body already vibrating as the fire started to take over. The only thing that stopped me from phasing was Bella putting herself in between us. Stupid girl.

"STOP!" She yelled frantically.

"No Bella, you choose to go back with him then we wolves want nothing more to do with you." I never dropped my glaring gaze from Edwards. I was mostly speaking of myself but I knew Jacob would have a hard time continuing their friendship, and we could no longer protect her outside of the reservation. This was tearing me the fuck apart, I already who she would choose minutes ago. This was the moment she was waiting for since he left months ago. I had nothing else to do, except give in to the anger that coursed my veins and rip his fucking throat out.

"That's not fair Paul, and you know it." She said, going to put a hand on my chest which would have calmed me down even if I didn't want it to, but Edward grabbed her and shoved her behind him again.

"Bella don't, he's unstable and battling inside of his head." He mumbled back to her, never taking his eyes off of me.

That set me off. I didn't look to Bella's wide and freightened eyes. All I saw was red. I jumped to Edward, shoving him to the back door. I phased just as we both busted out onto the ground. I backed up, growling. I ignored the screaming in my head to stop from my brothers. I ignored Bella screaming both of our names from the door. I ignored everything except for the asshole in front of me. He was a threat in my eyes and I was extremely pissed about it.

We went around in circles for minutes, missing each other's hits. It finally got to be enough I just took a chance. I lunged for him without a clear openening, snapping at his head before I felt his arms around me. Next thing I knew I was falling to the ground, howling out into the night, defeated.

I looked up and he was standing still, as if anticipating my next move. I growled, struggling to get up, until I head Bella running outside.

"EDWARD! Why?!" She kneeled down beside me and put a hand on my stomach, careful not to press down. "Oh Paul..." The tears rolled down her face and onto my fur. I whined, unable to stop.

"Paul you fucking idiot!" I could hear Jacob screaming as he came out of the trees. I just closed my eyes. I was going to hear about this later.

"Fix him!" I could hear Bella crying.

Everything was fading to black slowly. I opened my eyes, whining louder and louder, trying to phase back, fighting the black, but it wasn't working.

"Let's get him back home." I heard Sam's deep voice. "He's losing coinsciousness."

And the tunnel got more narrow.

"Paul you better not die so I can kill you myself!" I heard Bella threaten me.

I really knew how to fuck things up. That's all I did right.

And blackness was consuming me. I closed my eyes and welcomed it now. Bella made her choice, anyway. I fucked things up for the pack. I had nothing at the moment.

I felt eight different hands lift me up before I was out. Fuck.


	12. Chapter 12

I rewrote this a few times, still not so happy with it, but here it is.

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>I opened my eyes slowly. I was so damn groggy, nothing was even making sense. I could see a very blurry Sam talking with a even more blurry Bella. I went to say something but I was already falling back into unconsciousness. I better not be dead.<p>

I woke up again, a little more alert this time. I turned my head and was relieved it listened to me this time. I saw an IV stuck in my arm. Well, that would explain me being asleep. I glared at the stand and bag of medicine hanging beside my bed. Whoever set this shit up must of had it practically pouring into my veins for it to work. I wondered how long I had been out, and I tried to remember. Everything was kind of fuzzy. I remembered slightly waking up and finally phasing back, screaming as the pain crippled me before I was out again. Whatever, maybe I didn't want to know what happened right now. I finally focused on the soft hushed voice in the room.

I turned my head to the other side and saw Bella sitting in a chair, facing the wall that had various pictures hung up. "No I'm staying here Edward." She said bitterly into the phone she cradled between her face and shoulder. "He can't hurt me because you broke half of his body." She remarked to whatever he said. I raised my eyebrows, mildly amused. She sighed. "Yes I know it was just as much his fault too, but things are...complicated." I snorted at her words, complicated as quite an understatement. She quickly looked to me with relief, worry, then just plain anger going across her face in a matter of minutes. "I have to go, I'll see you later." She snapped the phone closed and glared at me. "What were you thinking?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think I was, I never do. That's the beauty about me, I just do. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it just doesn't. My only regret is that it's me in this bed." I grumbled and went to sit up, pleased that there was no pain.

She sighed and scooted closer, laying a hand on my arm that didn't have the annoying needle stuck in it. "You can't do that."

"You're just pissed because your precious Edward almost got hurt. It's alright, I understand that." I spat at her. "This is what you've always wanted." I started picking at the needle in my right arm until I yanked it out. There, that was better. I looked up to meet her gaze. "I just don't understand how you're going to let him come back into your life like nothing happened. Just...forget even about the imprint. It's not like we've had long. All there is is this annoying pull for you." It didn't matter that I had allowed myself to start to accept it. "I won't apologize for what I did though. I'm fiercely protective." At least I was still able to hang onto some pride, considering I was out for who knows how long.

"I never asked for this." She mumbled, looking down. I could already feel my insides ripping into a million pieces.

"And neither did I. I tried the best to my ability, but I'm not stupid." And the million pieces ripped into two million pieces. But fuck, I was stronger than this. There was this strange feeling starting to take over me. It was like I was beginning to go numb to anything emotional. I didn't know if it was still the medicine that was lingering or if it was a defense I had put up to protect myself. That was better. "Just...stay away from us." I mumbled, getting out of bed. I was thankful someone at least had the decency to pull some pants up on me. Ugh, the pressing need to piss was overpowering.

I turned to glance over at Bella who looked hurt and confused. I just shrugged to myself. I did all that I could at the moment. I went into the bathroom without another word and a few moments later I heard the front door open and close.

My days all blended together. Sam didn't punish me too hard since Carlisle, the "leader" of the Cullen coven, didn't count the fight as me breaking the treaty. Something about it being unfortunate but understandable given the complicated circumstances. I rolled my eyes when I heard him through the packs minds. I was made to do more patrols, but I ended up volunteering for more. I didn't need sleep. Laying in bed let my mind wander and the numbness would fade. I was free being my wolf, and for now that was enough. I wasn't allowed off the reservation as my wolf though, afraid I might have another confrontation with Edward. I rolled my eyes again at that. I just wanted to get the red head killed, sink my teeth into her, then I...well I didn't really know what I would do. Right now this was all I was allowing myself to focus on.

I barely phased back to my human form, only enough to eat since quite frankly killing something and eating it raw plain ol fucking sucked, and to appease my mother once in a while by showing my face if she was home. That didn't happen often, usually when she was home it was just to sleep. She caught me one day in the kitchen as I rummaged through the cabinets, scowling as I only found some soup, cereal, and frozen dinners in the freezer but I didn't want to eat at Emily's. The pack was all looking at me with pity in their eyes. I didn't need their fucking pity. Sometimes things just work out.

"Paul? Honey you look like hell. When's the last time you shaved?" She said as she sat down at the table with a cup of coffee in her work clothes.

I touched the long stubble on my face. I never really tested out the theory like other teenage boys did trying to grow out their facial hair. I shrugged and sat down, pulling the tab off the soup and drinking it out of the can cold. "I'll take a shower later." I mumbled.

"Are you okay?" I could see the worry etched across her face. "Maybe I should take a few days off of work."

"I'm fine." I tried to look convincing. "And you know we can't afford it." I felt bad. I was eighteen, I should be able to get a part time job to help out, but I couldn't until this vampire situation was taken care of. I wished I could explain to her what I was, it was left up to me, but I didn't think she could deal with it. She should at least be happy I managed to graduate last year.

"Well you don't look fine." She mumbled, taking a sip out of her mug. "You know I'm here if you need to talk." I wasn't convinced as she looked at the clock on the wall and sighed, standing up. She did her best putting food on the table and paying the bills but we were never close like a son and mother should be, even before my father left us.

"Go to work." I said simply before I stood up and walked outside. I sat on the front porch until she was running to her car and pulling out to go back to the office. I shook my head, letting my mind wander. As much as I hated it the thoughts of Bella came. I wondered how she was doing. Was she even suffering, even just a little bit?

Heavy footsteps caused me to look up, raising my eyebrows at Jacob. "Hey." He said, taking a seat beside me. "We have a meeting with the Cullen's later at the treaty line. The short one saw something. Apparently they need our help." He snorted, amused and proud at this fact.

I just shook my head and cracked a small smirk. "Yeah? Am I allowed to come to said meeting?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not. I don't think you're going to do anything, you're doing good just to function. You do need a good nights sleep though." He looked over at me, hiding the worry easily though he continued to talk. "You won't be any good to us unless you do sleep, you know."

I growled but I knew he was right. Little naps here and there weren't cutting it.

"You need to talk to Bella, Paul. I saw her the other day, she asked about you, and to be honest she doesn't look too good."

"That's none of your fucking business." I spat, the anger surging through me. "Leave it alone, she made her choice."

"Sometimes people make the wrong choices before they figure out the right ones. It's not right for you to suffer like this. Things that are worth anything aren't easy to get."

I shot him a warning glance. "Shut the fuck up already, I don't ned a pep talk and I don't need your advice." I took a deep shaky breath. "What time is the meeting?"

"Nine tonight." He said with a sigh. "Meet up at Emily's first."

I nodded before turning and walking to the trees. I needed to run and forget.


	13. Chapter 13

The realllll fun begins next chapter :) Thanks for all the reads and reviews. The way I'm motivated to write this it might be finished in a few days. Then I know I have a ton of work to do to go back and fix some mistakes I found re reading everything for the fiftyith time.

Don't own twilight.

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><p>I killed time running through the forest, pushing myself the hardest I could. If anyone else was phased at the moment they weren't letting it known. I felt a little bad, just a little, because I know I had been a bit unbearable in my mind at least. But the pack understood and didn't say too much. The only thing stronger than pack was imprinting. I huffed, coming up to a small creek. Yeah, imprinting worked out so well for me. I phased, standing on the edge of the water. I made a face thinking about my mothers comment. I probably should shower, but this would be fine for now. I threw my shorts to the side and jumped into the water. Swimming felt pretty good. I made sure I covered every area of my body, rinsing my hair several times. It was a little greasy, and getting a little too long. If I pulled it down it reached my eyes. Eh, I made a mental note to ask someone to cut it for me in a few days. Getting out of the water I shook my head, letting my body drip dry for a few minutes before I pulled my shorts back on. I was clean enough.<p>

I started walking towards Emily's house, honestly too mentally tired to phase at the moment. Plus the sun was still up, I had a while until we were to meet the Cullen's. I debated on not going, on the off chance Bella would be there, but I needed to hear what they had to say too. If we were going to be working together with them I would need to build a tolerance anyway.

It took me a half hour to reach the small house and it was starting to get dark. I walked inside, nodding my hello's to Sam and Emily sitting on the couch. "Paul, please, take a small nap before we go." Emily pleaded, standing up and pulling Sam with her.

I was about to shake my head no until she glared at me. "You'll sleep or I'll let the others eat all of the dinner I'm about to make."

I chuckled. "Alright alright." I didn't have the energy to fight sleep anyway if I were to sit down, and I knew my mind wouldn't be doing much thinking. I was on about as empty as I could get. At least it went with how I was feeling.

"We'll wake you when everyone else gets here." Sam said quietly as I practically fell into a laying position on the sofa. My eyes closed before I could say anything else.

Even though I was exhausted inside and out I still slept uneasily. I knew it was the fucking imprint. It had been a week since I had seen Bella. I knew after we got the vampire situation under control I would have to leave La Push, that had to help. I knew the others would understand. I was almost useless here anyway.

I woke up to the smell of food but didn't open my eyes yet. It felt too damn good to be laying down and let my body and mind relax. It didn't sound like the others were here yet, anyway.

"Sam, isn't there something you can do?" I heard Emily's quiet voice from the small kitchen.

"I don't know if I can. I keep hoping eventually Bella will feel it so strongly and won't be able to stay away, but it wouldn't be good if she came and left again." Sam said back.

I mentally rolled my eyes. I hated being the weak one, I was NEVER the weak one. And I hated them talking about me like I was the weak one. This was why I never wanted to fucking imprint in the first place. It made you weak, and now I had imprinted and lost the girl before I even had her, I was seen as beyond weak. "I hate seeing him like this..." Her voice trailed off.

I figured this was my cue. I didn't want to hear anymore ayway. I sat up slowly with a groan and stretched. I still felt exhausted and to be honest my bones kind of hurt, but I was a little better. I could function, at least I hoped that's what I've been doing the past week. I stood up and walked to the kitchen, flopping down into a chair. "I slept, now feed me." I said to Emily with a small playful grin.

She rolled her eyes but returned the smile before getting up. "Feel better?" Sam asked.

I nodded. "Yep. Where are the others?"

"They should be here any-" He was cut off by the front door opening and Jacob, Embry, and Jared pouring in. "Moment." He shook his head. "You guys must have a radar for when foods ready."

"Of course!" Embry said with a laugh before sitting. The others managed to squeeze themselves at the table as well.

"Oh Sam, Quil's mom said he's been acting funny. Should be any day now." Jacob said, a little glumly. "And Sue said Seth is acting out, and is running a constant fever."

Sam frowned at that. "He's so young...no doubt the Cullen's coming back is having it's effect."

Everyone was quiet for a moment until Emily came back laying several plates of cheeseburgers, fies, buns, and the condiments. Everyone, myself included, started digging in. The regular banter between us all went on while we kept shoving food down our bottomless pits. For once there were no pity glances my way, and I felt a little better, for a little while forgetting my situation.

About a half hour later it was ready to go. We all went to the tree line and phased, taking off towards the treaty line. Not one of us were surprised that the Cullen's were already there. I glanced quickly, somewhat relieved but disappointed that Bella wasn't with them.

_Should one of us phase to communicate?_ Jacob asked.

_No, the mind reader can translate for us._ Sam replied, not about to take any chances. I agreed with him. Besides already being phased and coming up on bloodsuckers meant it would be difficult to even phase back.

"They're going to stay as their wolves, they feel threatened." Edward murmured to his 'family'. A few of us growled at that.

_Enough! _Dammit Sam and his alpha orders.

"Right, of course. Alice, you want to explain to them what you saw?" Carlisle, I assumed, spoke up and nodded towards the tiny black haired female.

She looked irritated. Good, at least she was uncomfortable around us. "We have a problem. You already know about Victoria coming to avenge her mate." The rumble of a growl started going through my body at the mention of it. The damn leech was after Bella to kill. "But right now we have a bigger problem. There's an army of newborn vampires in Seattle. We were going to go to them next week, but there has been a change of plans. They're coming here this weekend, and we believe Victoria is behind it to get to Bella." She looked a little grim. Before she could even finish there was growling and a ton of yelling in our heads going on.

_Enough! Let them explain._ Sam ordered. We quieted ourselves, though the thoughts still continued and the confusion. What the fuck was a newborn vampire army? We could take them.

"They want to know the difference between a newborn and us, and what the army means." Edward translated quietly. At last he was doing good to not meet my gaze. Whatever sleep deprivation I was feeling earlier was erased, I was ready to fight whatever, whenever at the moment.

"Our kind is at our most strongest the first year we have been born into this life. Vampires used to make armies of newborns for war for hunting territory." Carlisle spoke up this time. "My son, Jasper, has experience with newborn armies. Either way we will fight them when we come, as we are sure you will too, but without some tips and training from Jasper there may be losses on each of our sides."

_What do you want us to do?_ Sam asked quickly. He didn't like the sound of this, hell none of of us did, especially me.

Edward translated Sam's question. "I'm going to start training my family tomorrow night on how to kill newborns. It's the same way to kill us but you have to take a different approach. We want you to come. With you fighting with us it will give us the numbers we need." The lanky sandy blonde bloodsucker answered.

_We'll be there. What time?_ Sam answered, ignoring all of our protests and mixed feelings about this. Joining up with the fucking enemy, as he crazy? _Enough! I won't put our lives in danger. We need to take out this threat or they are going to go straight to Forks. We can't have that. If working together means this will be resolved and everyone, including Bella, safe again then we're going to do it._

Edward translated again. "Nine again. Follow our scents from here to a clearing we used to go to."

We parted ways after that. Everyone was guarding their thoughts around me and I knew it was so I wouldn't be set off. Things just kept getting better and better for Bella. It as bad enough one vampire was after her, now there was a whole fucking army coming. I laughed, earning a few what the fuck's inside my head.

_This girl, Bella, she has EVERYONE wanting her. Edward, Jacob, then I imprinted. That one vampire who hunted her for a game, now the red head._ I explained. _She's so damn special everyone can't keep away._

Everyone was quiet. It really wasn't no joking matter. She was special, very special to me, even if I didn't fully grasp it yet. Fate decided she was mine and the it decided I couldn't have it. For the first time since I was a kid I just wanted to cry. I took off running away from my pack brothers to think. I quickly phased to my human form when I got close to the beach. I pulled on my shorts and walked onto the rocky sand. Sitting on a boulder I sighed, staring out into the water. I never felt so worthless in my whole damn life. Nothing compared to this feeling, and it pissed me off to no end to know that the cause of it was some girl.


	14. Chapter 14

The ultimate pairing is Paul and Bella, and I promise that is how it's going to be. It just takes a little while to get there with his stubborn ass and her finally getting what she always wished would happen dealing with the imprint and finally realize who it is that she''s supposed to be with. Next chapter will probably be in her point of view. Hope you enjoy this one!

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><p>Quil phased the next morning and the evening a few hours before we were supposed to go meet the Cullen's we got the biggest fucking surprise ever. Apparently our legends overlooked one fucking tiny little thing. We all knew Seth was getting ready, but he was such a happy little dude, like Jacob was. I remember us all waiting forever. But Leah, yeah, she phased. Sam was gone forever I thought he might not get back in time. Quil was sitting at the table with us and was just fucking happy to know what the big "gang" was all about.<p>

Everyone wasn't too happy about a female joining the pack for obvious reasons. She was bitter after her breakup with Sam and we all didn't want to be linked to her head. And we all really didn't want to see her naked when she would have to strip to phase. I was a little amused though, sitting back and watching the riff raff it caused with everyone. It was nice to not be the center of everyone's worry. I felt almost content.

We all quieted when Sam, Leah, and Seth finally walked in. Sam looked stressed and Leah looked pissed as hell. Seth just looked giddy, of course he would think this is the most awesome thing in the world. I smirked.

"Are they going with us?" Jacob asked, probably worried they would try and attack the Cullen's just out of nature, not able to hold back. It was an honest worry.

"Hell yes we are." Leah said. "I saw that there's a war coming, we need to all be there."

"Yeah but you could stay phased here and see through our minds, you really won't miss anything." Jacob said again, looking up at her. It was obvious it was more about a girl being in the pack.

I smirked again. Leah wasn't really the one to mess with. "Fuck off Jacob."

Sam interrupted, "Everyone goes. We need to get used to the Cullen's scents anyway so we know who to not attack." He looked pointedly at me.

"I'm not going to do anything again."

"Yeah, because last time you almost killed yourself." Embry said with a laugh.

I shot a glare his way and threw my fork at his head. He grinned catching it and holding it up, taunting me. I was jumping up out out of my seat, ready to go after him.

"Enough." Sam sighed. I wondered if he ever got tired of saying that one word. I didn't envy him, having to be in charge of all of us, but he was the best for the job. I was glad when Jacob turned down being the true alpha. Sam was practically made for this role, for being the tribal cheif, for being responsible for everything. Besides, I didn't know how well I would take to being ordered around by someone two years younger than me. He ran a hand through his hair. "Let's get this over with." He mumbled.

It only took a few minutes after we crossed the treaty line to pick up their scents. We all growled and huffed. They really did smell too sweet, it was fucking disgusting. Minutes later the scents got stronger and we found ourselves in an open clearing. They were on the other side so we stopped. There was another scent here too, a human.

I snapped my big ass furry head up. Bella. My heart felt like it was going to pound right out of my fucking chest. I had ignored the pull the past week, it was painful, but standing so close but yet still so far away from her was not like anything I could have ever imagined. I let out an involuntary whine for what I couldn't have. She locked eyes with me and I got a good look at her. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, probably mirroring my own horrific appearance. Even though she looked dead on her feet she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. Ugh, what the fuck was I thinking?

_What the hell is his problem? I_ heard Leah sneer inside my head.

I growled, snapping my head to her. _Don't judge what you don't understand yet pup._

_Don't fucking call me a pup! _She was ready to attack me until Sam's order came down.

I let out a low growl and then turned back to Bella. Edward was standing there next to her. I took a little enjoyment out of the fact that he didn't look happy. In fact he looked lost.

_Alright, mind reader, we're ready. _Sam said.

I let my mind focus to what we were doing here in the first place. At least her choosing the bloodsucker didn't get to interfere with my need to protect her. I still got to be involved in taking out the danger that was looming. That was almost enough satisfaction for me to ignore the need to be near her, to be in her life as everything I could be. I ignored her gaze and stared ahead.

The lanky vampire who was called Jasper last night stepped forward. "I'm just going to go over a few things first before I start acting out training with my family. Newborns, they're stronger because their human blood still lingers in their bodies. But they also rely on their basic instincts to fight. Do not go for the obvious kill, and do not let them get their arms around you - they will crush you instantly." Yeah I knew what that felt like.

We watched for about an hour as the Cullen's acted out scenerios. It was kind of awesome to watch them fight each other, even if they were only acting. I wished we could participate in the fighting aspect instead of watching but Sam had enough sense to know that we might end up hurting or killing one of them.

The biggest one, I heard someone call him Emmett, was starting to get frustrated and Carlisle called an end. "We'll be back here tomorrow night, same time, if you would like to join us."

_Yes, but only a few of us will show up. We can relay the information on_. Sam replied.

"A few will come. When they're as their wolves they can hear each other. They only all came tonight so they could get used to our scents." Edward translated softly.

"Fascinating." Carlisle murmured, glancing over all of us. We all fought back a small growl.

I was growing frantic. This was not nearly enough fucking time to be even remotely close to my imprint, and now we were all standing up to leave.

_Paul she's coming to you. _Jacob said to me. _Might be better if you phase, I'll just be in the trees_. His mental tone was soft, though I knew he was only lingering so I wouldn't do something stupid again. Ass.

I snapped my head up, relieved yet worried that she was almost near me. What would happen to me later on. I could see Edward's worried looks our way but at least he knew to stay away. I couldn't phase yet.

"Paul." She whispered as she stood in front of me. I looked at her and waited. "Can we uh, talk?"

I huffed and ran into the trees for cover, quickly calming myself down so I could phase. I yanked my shorts up and slowly walked back out. I really didn't want her to see me like this, I didn't want her to know that her going back to the leech had an effect on me. It showed I was weak. I was now regretting I didn't take a razor over my face earlier or at least get a proper shower. I noticed the only Cullen left here was Edward, no doubt waiting for Bella. I rolled my eyes.

"What?" I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but dammit I couldn't - no I would't let her get to me this time.

She winced, looking over me slowly. I felt almost self conscious the way she was taking me in. Fuck me. "I wanted to talk...you never let me get a chance to explain, or talk any. You just get mad and storm off." She muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Look if you're just going to tell me what I already know then there's no point." I took in a calming breath. This was fucking hard.

"No...I mean, I don't know." She sighed. I looked up and could see Edward coming over to us. It only took him a second. She looked mildly surprised to see him standing next to her. She rolled her eyes up at him. "I want to talk to him."

"Bella he's losing his temper, it's not safe."

I was trembling, but it was because of his words and presence. "I would NEVER fucking hurt her!" I spat.

"Bella lets go." He grabbed her hand, he grabbed what was fucking mine. He turned to leave with her, Bella giving me a long glance over her shoulder. That calmed me enough.

I barked out a laugh. "Yeah, Isabella, go on. Follow his every order. At least I gave you a fucking choice. And you're no safer with him than you are with me." I yelled, stalking towards them until a set of arms wrapped around me holding me back. I struggled as my body started to shake al over. "Be careful not to cut yourself in front of him - you might not survive." She looked hurt and I heard Edward growl. It was no fucking use, though.

"Paul, come on!" Jacob pleaded, still holding onto me.

I finally stopped struggling as Bella was out of view. He finally let me go and I just collapsed to the ground, the growls unable to stop coming. Within a second I was bursting fur. I took off in the opposite direction Bella and her precious leech went, unable to stop the howls that followed.


	15. Chapter 15

Just kidding on the Bella chapter. There might be one later, but I think I might save some chapters in her point of view for when the story is finished. I wanted to show Paul's perspective through the whole thing, especially now that we're getting close to the end.

Thanks for the reads and reviews and please keep them coming so I know I'm doing something right or even wrong!

Still don't own Twilight.

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><p>Everyone seemed to be fucking torturing me, though not on purpose. It started the day after when Jared imprinted on a girl from school named Kim. Everything worked out perfectly. Now only did I have to deal with the happy romance between Sam and Emily, there was Jared and his new girlfriend. She took everything in stride, tough little girl she was. The pack that was still in school tried to make up a lot of the work they missed. It happened when he was entering the school and locked eyes with her while she was leaving. Everything else was history for now. I was annoyed. Even the elder's sat me down to talk wanting to know what was going on exactly. There was never a case where the imprint could walk away, even if it was having an effect on Bella. At this point I was just hopeless about the whole damn situation.<p>

I didn't volunteer and Sam didn't make me go to the nightly training meetings. The rest of the wolves, however, switched off on who would go. From what I could see when the two that went relayed the information Bella didn't show up either. It pained me from being away from her but right now it was just something I couldn't change even if my whole being was telling me to do whatever the fuck it took.

It was two nights before the shit storm that was coming would finally be raining down on us and I knew I had to try and get some sleep. I went into my own room reluctantly. Something about being in my room just made it harder to actually calm down and shut off my mind. I sighed and just flopped my ass down on my bed, not bothering to change out of my dirty clothes. I made a mental note to shower in the morning. Surprisingly I did fall asleep. I wasn't sure what time it was when I became dead to the world. My sleep was torturing me too, like I fucking deserved anymore torture.

Nightmares. I didn't have nightmares since I was probably eight fucking years old, and here I was an oversized adult thrashing around in my bed. When I woke up I couldn't even remember what my nightmare was about really, other than Bella had died. I woke up choking on nothing, the thought practically killing me. I gasped, gaining control of my breathing before I completely got out of bed. I shot the bedding a glare, as if it had something to do with it, then sighed. So much for sleep. I knew what I needed, what I REALLY needed, and I debated on it for a few seconds. "Fuck it." I mumbled and took off out of the house like a bat out of hell. I phased, not giving a damn about my clothing that tore into a thousand pieces, and took off running towards the only thing I could be calm about at this point.

As soon as I was in the tree line behind the Swan house I hunkered down, as if that would mask my mind and scent from the one person I knew was inside of her room. I could smell him all the way out here. _I won't let her know I'm here, just let me stay where I am so I can rest._ I pleaded, surprising myself. I never thought I would have to beg a fucking leech for the one thing that was mine, but I was a little desperate these days. I saw a shadow in the window for a second or two before it disappeared. I sighed glad that he didn't come outside and try to chase me away, laying my head down on my front paws. This wasn't nearly close enough to what my whole being needed, but it was close enough for some comfort. If I could just pretend it wasn't someone else inside of that room I was okay. Sleep took over me and I slept the longest I had in weeks.

Yelling in my head is what woke me in the morning, like an annoying pounding in my head. I groaned and opened my eyes, surprised to see the morning daylight peeking through the clouds.

_I'm alive, calm the fuck down._ I shouted back.

_We couldn't find you dude. Where are you? Wait, nevermind, I see it._ I could practically hear Jared snort, which I chose to ignore. This fucking girl was softening me up way more than I wanted her to, but right now I felt kind of content so I wasn't worrying about how I looked to others.

_Why are you looking for me anyway?_ I stood and looked around. Bella's truck was gone, no doubt off to one of her last days of school. How I could have missed the loud rumble of her truck starting was beyond me.

_Sam just wanted to have a meeting and talk to us all about tomorrows battle. We're all meeting with the Cullen's tonight to go over some plan to hide Bella from the battle. The future teller can't see the red head with the leech army so she's guessing that's just a huge distraction while she goes after Bella._

He was cut off while I growled, taking off away from Bella's house. iThat won't fucking happen./i

_Just relaying the message, man. We're behind Sam's place_.

I didn't say anything off, suddenly a new purpose taking over. I had to protect Bella, that was what I was here for. She didn't choose me to be...well whatever the hell the leech was to her, but I could be her protector. The pack meeting was simple, though we all could see the grim look on Sam's face. Tomorrow was almost here and he was worried about one of his pack brothers getting hurt or worse – losing one of us. I _really _did not envy him as alpha at all. I was the next strongest wolf, aside from Sam and Jacob, but as far as that responsibility? Hell fucking no.

We took off early evening to meet with the Cullen's about some new plans. When we got there we didn't think twice about phasing back. I didn't think any of us cared, aside from Leah, at this point. Once we pulled our clothes on we walked out to meet them. A few of them looked quite surprised.

"Edward was already planning on staying out of the battle to keep Bella away, but with me not seeing Victoria with the newborns I think it's a ruse. They're going up 'camping'," the short leech rolled her eyes as if that term shouldn't even exist, "up in the mountains. But if Victoria is with the newborns she could just follow his scent."

I already knew where she was going with this. "I'll carry her up there." I said quietly. I felt several eyes on me and I just shrugged. "Honestly, even if I'm fucking nothing, not even her could keep me from my basic instinct. I'll join in on the fight once she's safe. My scent should mask hers, anyway."

Edward looked at me with a hint of pity in his eyes. Sure, it was obvious he wasn't happy about this situation. "I don't need your fucking pity." I sneered.

"Paul." It was a warning from Sam. I just nodded and stood back.

"You just need to stay the night to stand look out while she's asleep." Edward said quietly, avoiding eye contact with me.

I nodded once and looked at the ground while the others talked. At least I would get to be close to her for another night.


	16. Chapter 16

Promise this is where things finally start turning around in Paul's favor :)

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>Apparently the psychic wasn't so sure exactly when the battle would take place. Now she was saying Sunday morning instead of Saturday afternoon. None of us were willing to chance our timing being off. Edward was to meet me, accompanied by Jacob of course, in the clearing where the bloodsuckers were apparently coming to us. Somehow the clearing became our neutral ground, so to speak. I was alright with it – for now. Bella was to spread her scent, leading them in to where we wanted them, before I masked her scent completely by carrying her to the "camp site". The psychic already said it would work, though I doubted her since she couldn't see completely with us wolves so closely involved. We all took pride in that. At lease she couldn't fucking see our futures.<p>

I packed a small backpack, shoving a few blankets inside for Bella just in case. She was going to be up there with that bloodsucker and he only looked human. I didn't want her to be cold and I could feel the weather changing. The snow probably wouldn't hit in Forks, but up in the mountains it would. I also shoved in some snacks telling myself they were for me and Jake but really I had Bella in mind. Hell, when did I _not_ have Bella in mind?

Jacob gave me a knowing look as I came outside with the backpack slung over my shoulder. I just shrugged. "Let's go do this."

We met Edward and Bella in the clearing and for the first time in what felt like fucking years I could relax. I didn't know what I was expecting to see, maybe the same girl that looked almost healthy from her time spent hanging out with Jacob or when she looked completely rested when I were to sleep next to her. She was alive but she was more pale than even the last time I saw her, and skinnier. Fuck, what was she doing, starving herself? The dark circles under her eyes were as dark as they could possibly get. She looked like the walking zombie again only this time it somehow looked worse. I couldn't help the growls that were already racking my body. Jacob laid a hand on my shoulder, silently pleading with me with his eyes. I knew if I lashed out I wouldn't be involved in this, someone else would carry _my_ Isabella and help protect her through the day and possible night.I took in a shaky breath and nodded, catching Bella's gaze. She looked about as broken as I felt and I couldn't even take any comfort in the fact that she was hurting too. If anything it just broke me even further.

"I'll take a different route up so it wont mix with your scent. By the time you get there I should have the tent ready." I had forgotten Edward was even standing there, he was probably impatient to get this over with. I looked up to catch his gaze but though he obviously wasn't happy about all of this he didn't look to be too upset. Actually he looked quite defeated. Huh.

"Hey Bells." Jacob said with a grin, going up and giving her a hug. She smiled even if it didn't reach her eyes and hugged him back. I resisted the urge to growl.

"Alright." I simply said, stepping towards Bella. "I can simply carry you in my arms or on my back, whichever you're more comfortable with." I said in a soft tone. I wasn't about to blow up on her. I needed her right now in more ways than I could even decipher. It fucking bugged me in some way but I had done a lot of growing up since I imprinted on her.

I didn't miss the way her eyes got a little bit of light back in them when I was closer, but she looked embarrassed. "I could walk." She mumbled.

It shouldn't have stung when she said it, her not even wanting to be that close to me, but I shrugged off the surge of hurt that I would have covered up by lashing out. "We can't take chances with your scent being on the ground. You need to be off the ground for this to work." I sighed. "Look, I can phase instead of Jacob and trail ahead of you guys if you'd like." It would have fucking killed me and took every ounce of control but I was trying to be somewhat sensible here.

She shook her head. "No, I just don't like feeling so useless and weak. It's my fault Victoria is doing all this in the first place and people I care about are risking everything."

I snorted and shook my head. "You're not useless, you're worth it for everyone involved. Even if this were anyone else this bloodsucker was after we would be doing the same anything. In my arms or on my back?" I raised an eyebrow this time. At least she wasn't trying to avoid me.

She sighed. "I'll ride on your back so your arms don't get tired." She mumbled.

"You couldn't hurt me either way, wolf remember?" I almost smirked. Being around her, even if I still knew I wasn't anything to her, was bringing me back to my normal self.

She half smiled. "Yeah yeah."

I leaned down so she could jump up on my back. As she jumped I held onto her thighs tightly but not tight enough to hurt her. "Hold onto my neck." I said softly. She wrapped her arms around my neck gently and my body felt like an electric current was running through it. No doubt a cause of the physical contact with my imprint. I sighed at the feeling, wondering for a moment if she could feel it too, but she wasn't giving anything away.

As I started to walk towards the tail Jacob jogged past us in wolf form. I chuckled as Bella gasped. "It always surprises me how massive you guys are as a wolf." She said in a little disbelief

"It shouldn't, we all pretty much tower over anyone now days. Especially Sam and Jacob."

"I know, I watched him spout up an inch every day it felt like." She sighed then fell quiet. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but I refrained. I would enjoy being close with her even if it was in an unsettling silence.

Honestly I probably could have jogged faster but I felt that would eat up time I craved. If Bella was suspicious she didn't let on. After a while I felt her chin on my shoulder. I hummed in appreciation, not able to help it, and she jerked back quickly. I sighed but didn't say anything. I could almost feel the battle in her head.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore." She finally admitted.

"Me either." I said back, wondering where she was going to go with this even if anywhere. I hoped it was _somewhere._ But she fell silent again even though she replaced her chin on my shoulder. I relaxed again, not daring making a sound or say anything else.

Jacob always stayed a few paces in front of us, which I appreciated the little bit of privacy he gave me for our little time together. He had grown up a lot too in the past few weeks, I was damned proud of him.

All too soon the campsite was in view. I sighed as an uneasiness came over me knowing that she would be inside the tent with the leech. My whole body seemed to tense until I felt a tiny hand touch my face. "Calm down." She whispered.

I just gave a sharp nod, though she had no idea how much that simple gesture did for me at the moment. Edward was waiting in front of the tent and I scowled, leaning down so she could unlink her arms and climb off. Once she did she stood in between me and Edward, looking between the two of us as if deciding something before she resigned and went with him. I narrowed my eyes as he put a hand on the small of her back and ushered her inside. I watched the opening of the tent for a few moments, as if hoping she would run back out to me, then snorted. That obviously wasn't happening. I gave up and went down the slope of the mountain some to phase.

_I'm going to stay close to the tent just in case. You stay down a little further._ I declared. I knew it would be tough for me but if anything I needed to protect her. It was my basic of instincts when it came to my imprint.

_Alright. And Paul...I'm sorry. As much as I wanted her, as much as I thought me and her would have been perfect it's so much more tough to watch you two go through this. You need her, and I KNOW she needs you. I don't know what she's doing._ He stopped himself, but I already knew he was going to say or what he's doing to her to keep her, but being close to the mind reader he was smart.

_It's whatever. After this is over and everyone's sure that the tribe is safe I'm probably taking off. _I couldn't stand to be here any longer than I had to. So close, yet so far away, from the one person I needed. Yeah, my life fucking sucked at the moment. If it weren't for my pack family I probably would have ditched the day she left my house and went to him.

Jacob whined at my declaration. _We'll miss you. _He simply said before he went silent. We were both in protective mode, linked to the pack who were settling down in the clearing ready at any moment for the fight to come.

Just as I had felt it it did start snowing, and snowing hard. The wind was harsh. I was still as warm as could be but I could hear the teeth chattering inside of the tent as Bella tried to sleep. _If you need more blankets I laid my backpack outside of the tent._ I mentally said to Edward. A second later I saw a white figure come out to retrieve it. He gave a small nod in my direction before going back inside.

I knew I could have her sweating next to my body within minutes but I stayed outside as long as I could. Apparently even the extra blankets weren't helping. _Fuck this. I'm coming in._ I at least warned him before I phased, pulled up my shorts, and stepped inside. He didn't even give me a glance, his tortured expression down on the girl he couldn't help as she was freezing to death. I rolled my eyes. "Bella, scoot over." I said.

"Wh-wh-what n-no-noo. I-I'm f-f-fiin-fine." She said in between shivers. She was even _more_ fucking pale than before to the point she was turning blue.

"Isabella scoot the fuck over or I'll move you myself." That earned a growl from Edward. I shot him a death glare and growled right back.

She finally managed to start moving but her body was shaking so bad. I sighed and crouched down, climbing in the sleeping back beside her. I put my arms around her and pulled her to my chest then started rubbing my hands over her arms. I even shivered as our bodies first touched. "Jesus you're fucking frozen." I muttered. She didn't say anything, just gasped and sighed and the sudden heat. "Calm down, you'll be warm soon." I soothed. Within minutes she was warm enough to fall asleep, a tiny peaceful expression on her face. I tried my best not to let my mind wander but to be honest I was fucking giddy, even if I knew the feeling wouldn't last long.


	17. Chapter 17

Happy reading! The next two chapters are going to be difficult to write with what I have planned but so fun at the same time. I'm excited this story is finally at the point I've dreamed up all along.

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>I could feel Edwards penetrating gaze on me, I tried my best to ignore it but I finally turned my head to look up at him with raised eyebrows.<p>

He shook his head slowly. "You're just good for her." He said, reluctantly.

"It doesn't matter, she wants you." I was already getting pissed, covering up the fact that the shitty feeling was creeping it's way back. Why couldn't he just let me fucking enjoy the night? Maybe even get a few minutes of sleep? No, he had to try and ruin it.

He smirked. "I'm not trying to ruin it, I'm just being honest." Damn the mind reading shit. He sighed and sat up straight from his spot on the other end of the tent. I figured he was sitting so far away from her to not freeze her more. "I had no idea the effect it would take on her when I left or else I would have never, but now I feel like I'm fighting with fate. I am not an unreasonable person. I am here until she orders me away, but she cares too much for everyone to think clearly at times. I believe she is only back with me because she feels that's what she wants, or it was what she wanted for a long time."

"Why are you telling me all of this? To put some fucking hope in my mind only to have it ripped away later?" I raised my voice some, it cracking some at the end. Fuck, I hated talking about my feelings, but he had to know. Maybe that was the problem – he _did_ know and wanted to twist the rusty knife inside of me a little more. I was already starting to tremble a little though I was far from getting to the point of phasing when Bella shifted a little. I looked down at her.

"No, don't leave me Paul." She mumbled, still asleep. She sighed in her slumber and fell still again. I swore my heart skipped a few beats.

It was a few moments until one of us spoke again. "I told you, I am not unreasonable. I really am no good for her. For one she hasn't slept hardly since I have been back. She tosses and turns, says your name in her sleep way more than I like, then just gives up on sleep all together. She's quiet around me, only speaks when spoken to." He sighed.

My mind was fucking reeling, and I couldn't help the small smile at him admitting she says my name. It was a tiny bit of relief. "You can give her the normal human life, even kids some day. I can't. Paul, this has been killing her every bit as much as I can see in your mind."

I started to growl but stopped myself from the instinct, Bella needed to sleep. "I'm here for her for whatever she needs." I spoke again finally after a few words. "The imprint, yeah eventually it's supposed to mean everything, but we never even got the chance to really know each other. She might start to know me and hate me." I grounded my teeth together. Who was I kidding? Would we ever get that chance? She had to be the most stubborn human I have ever laid my eyes on, aside from myself. "All I know is for the past few weeks I've had to ignore my instincts to be there for her. I felt her misery. We're linked in a weird way." I looked away from Bella's peaceful face and up to his again, meeting his eyes. "I know you think that I am some wild werewolf, and while part of that may be true, while I am probably the one with the worst temper – I would _never_ hurt her. Yeah, accidents do happen, but with Sam and Emily? Their situation was much different. And you can't tell me that accidents can't happen with you two. I don't suffer some crazy addiction to blood and yearn for it." My gaze was turned into a glare.

He just nodded, looking thoughtful. I rolled my eyes, our "heart to heart" apparently over. I laid my head down and closed my eyes. Fuck, I knew I was going to fall asleep if I stayed here but I wasn't about to get up and let Bella get cold again. _Wake me up if you hear anything from Jacob._ I said mentally, not bothering to see if he got it. As much as I hated to admit it he loved Bella too much to let her go in danger. He would wake me up.

I had the most satisfying sleep in ages it felt like, even if it were for less than eight hours. I opened my eyes, surprised someone didn't wake me up sooner considering it was daylight outside.

"Nothing happened." Edward spoke up. I looked up and he shrugged.

I started stretching with a groan, the small form beside me starting to wiggle. She looked up at me and blushed with a sleepy look on her face. I actually cracked a grin before I got up. "Thanks Paul for uh...keeping me warm." She said.

I just nodded. "Anytime." Yeah, nothing changed. I shook my head and went outside of the tent, running downhill a bit before I phased.

The link to the other pack was crazy as soon as I phased. I could practically hear Jacob wincing. Apparently there was only minutes until the baby vampires vs veggie vampires & werewolves begun. I was thankful I got that few hours of good sleep, I felt energized.

_You can go on Jacob, I'll be down as soon as Seth makes it up here._ One of us wolves were to stay up here to keep Edward linked. I wasn't too happy that it wasn't me but I was the best fighter aside from Sam and Jacob. Nothing was going to happen up here and I needed to keep everyone safe.

_On my way._ I heard Seth say a little too happily. I mentally rolled my eyes. He took this whole turning into a giant dog shit the best, thought it was the most awesome thing in the whole wide world. Crazy little dude.

I walked back over to the tent and sat down so Edward could hear everything going on, even if it was nothing yet. Bella walked around from the back of the tent and gave me a wide eyed look then smiled warmly. I gave her a slight nod then looked away when Edward came out. I was tore up enough inside, I didn't need to see that shit right before I was supposed to fight.

My eyes widened as I saw through the eyes of everyone down in the clearing. A shit ton of crazed vampires were running at the Cullen's, then the wolves down there were jumping out as a big surprise.

_Dammit Seth! Where the FUCK are you?!_

_Vampire scent! Two of them! Headed your way, following Edwards! _He replied, almost out of breath.

I growled loudly and jumped up, looking up to Edward. His eyes were wide.

_SETH! Stay the fuck where you are! _I already know who was coming. It was the one we kept chasing off, the one behind this whole damn thing, the one who wanted to kill Bella. We all failed trying to keep her safe.

"Victoria." Edward hissed.

And, as if on cue, the red headed bitch and a male bloodsucker with wild red eyes stepped out into view. I moved protectively in front of Bella, beside Edward. Fuck all the other shit, right now we were ally's.


	18. Chapter 18

This is truly the turning point of the story. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>The red head looked shocked, briefly, that I was here then wiped it off of her face as soon as it came. She smirked looking over all three of us. I growled louder, only quieting down when a small hand was on the small of my back. I could feel her hand shaking. It pissed me off that she had to be in so much fear, that she had to face this head on. Dammit, it wasn't supposed to be this way!<p>

_Seth, I need you to move closer to us. I need you to surprise the other leech that came. Wait for me to say. _Leah would bite my head off later for putting her little brother in danger but I knew he could handle it. Hell, I hoped he could. I doubted I could keep him out of this even if I tried. I could still see the others in my head taking out the newborns. It looked hectic but no one was hurt – yet.

_Hell Paul, I'm already near by. No way was I going to just stand by and listen. _The boy had more balls than anyone ever gave him credit for.

"You know it doesn't matter how many of you are standing in front of that girl, her blood is still mine." The red head snarled.

I bared my teeth. Fuck no she wasn't. Edward stayed calm though I swore I could feel the anxiety of the situation rolling off of him.

"Riley? She doesn't love you. You were created, you _all_ were created to revenge her mate James."

Cullen had some mind tricks. "You're wrong." Even the poor bloodsuckers voice didn't sound convincing.

Victoria looked to him and shook her head. "Remember what I told you about their tricks." She pleaded.

He turned his head back onto us and gave us a feral smile. Well fuck Edward and his mind tricks, he sucked at them. It was obvious he was about to attack. _NOW SETH!_ I yelled. Seconds later he lept out and was on top of the unsuspecting victim. He screamed as an arm went flying across us.

"VICTORIA!" He screamed. Victoria, of course, just stood there looking at him before she went to take off.

"Victoria! Let's end this! You want me to feel your pain. Make me feel how you felt when I tore apart James." He yelled out, taking a step forward.

She turned around, upper lip curled up showing off her teeth as she let out a high pitched hiss if that were even fucking possible. I tensed, waiting. I didn't have to wait long, Edward went charging just as she did. The two collided, it sounding like a large crack of thunder echoing through out the mountains.

I growled, pacing but never keeping my eyes off of them. I didn't want to leave Bella vulnerable. But one second Edward had it and then the next second he didn't. He was missing a hand and she was about to rip his head off. Bella was damn near crying, yelling out. I jumped, right before she could tear it from his body, knocking her off of him. She shoved me off of her and into a boulder.

"PAUL!" Bella screamed, panicked. It felt like one of my ribs cracked again but the adrenaline rushing through my veins made me forget about it right after it had happened.

I waited for my next opening to get rid of her filthy fucking excuse for walking this Earth. It seemed as if she thought she hurt me more than she had, knocking me out of the fight. Stupid leech. She was focused solely on Edward. How the fuck did he keep getting himself into a headlock with this bitch? He had me pretty good weeks ago and now he was about to lose his head, again. I was about to jump before I smelled the scent of blood. Ugh, hell no.

Two hisses of vampires and both of their heads snapping their way. I wanted to face smack myself. Was she stupid? I growled, jumping in front of her just in time. God Dammit he was fucking worthless right now. The thought that I could probably end them both crossed my mind, but the thought of hurting Bella more was over riding. She would never forgive me, even if his eyes were pitch as black, just like the red heads. _A little help over here! _I screamed in my head.

Luckily the other leach didn't kill Seth as he jumped out behind a boulder like a jack in the box tackling Edward to the ground. I lunged and did the same to the red head since she was so focused on the scent of her blood. Was Bella's blood just like fucking gold to vampires or what? She tried to put up a fight, hissing and biting me, but I already had her pinned. I ripped her head clean off of her body with my teeth. I couldn't stop just at the head. No. Her arms were next ripped off, then her legs. I stood back, nothing moving from any of her limbs, and was finally satisfied.

I turned to look that Seth had Edward under control. Bella was kneeling in the snow, her own blood staining the white. I phased as quickly as I could calm myself down enough and slipped on my shorts, running over to her. "Dammit Bella. That was the most stupid of stupid of fucking stupid of moves." I said, trying my best not to raise my voice at her, trying my best to hide the fear I was feeling minutes before. I ripped some material off of the bottom of her shirt off, ripping it in half, then tying one around each of her bleeding wrists.

"She was going to kill both of you, I had to do something. It was the only way to get her attention." She looked over at Edward, as if not believing that he almost killed her as well. I rolled my eyes.

"Seth, is everything okay down there?" I asked. He just nodded his big furry head. I nodded, turning back to Bella and wincing as a pain shot through my mid section. Yep, cracked definitely. Oh well, I had worse.

Bella reached out to touch my arm. I caught her gaze, instantly locked in her deep brown eyes. "Thank you." She whispered. "Are you hurt?" She sounded pained as she asked.

I was about to say something when I could smell Edward getting closer. I tensed and shoved Bella behind me in one quick movement. I didn't relax even when I noticed his eyes had returned to the golden color they were normally, well almost. I reached behind me to keep a hand on Bella so I didn't do anything I regretted. Luckily she allowed it.

"Bella...I'm so sorry." He pleaded, looking around me and at her. My wolf was taking over. It didn't matter I knew she wasn't mine, but to the wolf in me she _was._ The growls wracking my body got louder. He looked at me surprised and I tensed more, stepping forward. I saw him as nothing but a threat at this point. He tried to fucking eat _my_ Isabella for a snack.

"It's okay...I always knew it was a risk...I knew it was always your main food source just I..." She sighed, putting her other hand on my arm that was gripping onto her and she squeezed gently. I could practically feel the fear rolling off of her. If possible I tensed further.

No doubt it was from me getting possessive but I didn't give a damn. He was a danger to her. I knew that before but even with him not hunting humans the urge was obviously still too powerful over a little spilled blood. "Leave." I said sternly, my teeth bared and grounded together.

He must have known he didn't have a fight here, right now, not with Bella behind me and not willing to step towards him. He turned. A little tension left my body. Then the mother fucker spoke at the same time Seth let out a huge whine. "Jacobs hurt. The Volturi are coming. We have to go, you need to get Bella out of here quick before they find her." He said quietly before he disappeared. Who the fuck was the Volturi? And what the fuck Jacob? He was the rightful Alpha even if he didn't take it and he was going around getting himself hurt.

Bella was starting to shake harder and I jerked around, gripping both of her shoulders. "Bella, I need you to calm down." Her freaking out right now was not going to be well for me either. "Everythings alright. We all heal quick, he's probably fine." Of course I didn't know that for sure but I needed to soothe her as much as I could right now. He better not fucking die.

Seth whined again, nudging me in the side. I hissed, remembering my own injury. He jumped back as I turned to him. "Go help. We'll be at Billy's house waiting." He nodded once and took off. "Bella I'm going to phase so we can get off of this damn mountain faster. Just hold on tight to me and duck down as much as you can, okay?"

She nodded. "Paul, we have to go. If the Volturi find out I know about vampires they'll kill me or turn me. And Jacob, oh god. And you're hurt. Are you okay?" Tears were falling from her cheeks as she looked up into my eyes. "It's like I can feel it." She touched her left side. "I'm so sorry!"

I growled and gripped her shoulders again, shaking her gently or what I hoped was at least gently. "ISABELLA! Stop! I am _f__ine!_ A broken rib probably, which will be fine by tomorrow." I knew it would probably have to be re broken since I broke it as my wolf and was standing on two legs again. "The Vol-what the fuck ever are not going to get you, they'll have to get through me and the pack first. But to ensure your safety and to check on Jacob we HAVE to get off of this damned mountain."

She just nodded at my words, letting out quiet sobs. Those sobs tugged at my heart so damn hard. I sighed then stepped back several feet before I phased back into my wolf. I almost fell down at first as the pain in my left side hit me again but quickly recovered. I went up next to Bella, knelt down, and as soon as she was secure I took off running. This time I didn't hold anything back and I sure as fuck focused so she didn't fly off. There were no shrills of joy this time, only the quiet crying and salty tears hitting my fur and soaking into my skin. I wanted to cry right along with her, but could I even cry as a wolf? Even if I could it would just blur my vision and we'd hit a damn tree.


	19. Chapter 19

I kept re reading this chapter and even re-wrote it once. Honestly I'm not that happy with it, but here it is as I gave up frustrated. I will note that we haven't seen the last of the Volturi. I know I kind of wrote them out quickly but I have plans. I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to do a sequel to dive into that one or throw it into the last few chapters of this. I'm not sure yet. I don't think I have enough plans to do a sequel, unless I follow some of the Breaking Dawn storyline which I didn't want to. I hate how I kind of made Bella seem in this story also but even in the books she was toying with Jakes emotions then back with Edward, so I guess it's not that different. At least in this she was hardly friends with Paul before Edward came back, I guess. Oh well. Either way only a few more chapters left in this story! The next will probably be up tonight since I'm almost done with it. Enjoy!

Don't own Twilight.

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><p>I turned once to look back in the direction the clearing and mountains. An oddly colored smoke was rising up and the smell burned the fuck out of my nose. Disgusting. Someone must have returned to the mountain we were on to light the red head and her friend's body pieces up. Probably a Cullen.<p>

As soon as I knew we were close to the Black residence I slid to a stop just hidden in the trees. I could hear everyone outside, even Charlie, and I totally didn't want him to try and take a shot at me. I could hear Jacobs screams even from out here and I winced. All the way here I caught glimpses of what had happened from Seth who was put on patrol to make sure no one else was lingering. It was just what he saw through everyone else but still. Stupid idiot. But he was screaming so he was alive. I knelt down so Bella could climb off. She stood back, expecting me to just morph back. Ugh, I ripped my pair of shorts not bothering when I phased to run. Fuck it. It took me a minute to calm myself enough to phase back. I looked straight up to her face which was of course blushing. I smirked since I had nothing to hide or be ashamed of. "I ripped my shorts." I explained her unspoken question.

She blushed the deepest shade of red, trying to keep her eyes on my face. "I uh...I'm going to...check on Jacob." She turned and started running. I started to laugh then hunched over with a groan. This wasn't going to fix itself fast enough. It felt good to almost be normal with Bella even for a moment. The dread hit me as I wondered how long this would last, her being around me. I tried to push the thoughts out of my head that she was running to Jacobs bed side, it would just piss me off for no reason. She was his friend and he needed her. Well, what he really needed was for someone to knock him in the head a few times, but that would have to wait until he was better.

I walked around the trees trying to see if Jacob had anything laying around. Finally I found a pair of shorts and yanked them on. Even though he was taller they still fit. We all had about the same muscle mass since we all phased, just Sam was taller than all of us because he was the first I figured, and Jacob the tallest pushing seven feet because he was the born Alpha.

I started jogging to the house, stopping by the rest of the pack aside from Seth who were standing outside. "Is he alright?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together.

"Dr. Cullen had to re-break his bones." Embry said, wincing himself as he looked down at the ground as another scream pierced all of our ears.

I tried not to growl at the name of Cullen but failed just a little. I held up my hands as I felt several glares piercing my body. "I know I know. I just witnessed Edward trying to snap at Bella though, I'm allowed to be a tad tense."

One of my pack brothers sighed. "We saw. Looks like you had it worse up there. We were all blind sided." Quil muttered this time.

Finally the burning sensation in my nose hit me to alert me the Cullen leader was coming out, which meant he was done with Jacob. The only sounds inside of the house now were three heartbeats and Jacobs moans.

"He's going to be alright, just needs to rest. I'll be back later to set up a drip. He'll probably burn off the morphine I gave him." I narrowed my eyes, wondering if it was Carlisle who patched me up weeks ago. Glancing around at the sheepish looks on my pack brothers faces I was right. Sneaky bastards. They at least looked away when my glare darkened. I was going to snap off their legs one by one.

"Thanks, so much." Billy spoke up, even holding his hand out to shake the vampires. I rolled my eyes but recovered with a half smile. Two sets of monsters who were born enemies actually worked together. It was kind of amazing but right now I was just glad it was over.

"It's no problem." Carlisle smiled before he disappeared.

Sam walked out, looking like he had aged in the past twenty four hours. I couldn't help but snort. He shot me a warning look before speaking. "Jake's going to be fine in a few days, just a lot of broken bones. Everyone can go home. Seth's on patrol just in case, I'll switch off with him after I take a nap." He looked like he needed more than a nap.

He stalked off towards his and Emily's house. I just shook my head. Within five minutes the rest of the pack had left. I wheeled Billy inside so he could move about the house at least, settling on the couch to wait for any indication Bella was done visiting her beaten best friend. I noticed the pain was easing some and sighed in some relief. I totally did not want to re break any of my bones. I knew Jacob didn't want to see any of us, I had been there. No one wanted any of the others to see us in their weakest state. It was fucking embarrassing and shameful.

I wasn't sure if Bella even wanted me to wait on her but dammit I wasn't leaving her right now. I remembered the cuts on her wrists and wondered if she needed to be seen by a doctor her own self tonight. Dammit, why didn't I think of this shit earlier? I stood up, about to break up their reunion, when she was closing his bedroom door quietly behind her. "He's asleep for now." She said softly.

I nodded. "Billy? Do you need anything?" I looked to the older man.

He shook his head. "No. Well, yeah, maybe some water? I'm just waiting on Dr. Cullen to come back then I'm probably going to bed. I'm just glad this is over." He was muttering by the end.

I placed a hand on his shoulder on my way to the small kitchen. "Trust me, so am I." In a way. I still knew Bella could and probably will go back to the Cullen home tonight. As awful as this threat was to her, now I felt all ties except for the imprint to her were broken. I sighed as I filled up a glass with some water from the tap, dropping a few ice cubes in it from the freezer. I handed it to Billy as I came out. "Here you go. If you need anything Billy just call one of us. I'll put a bug in Emily or Sue's ear to make you something to eat for the morning."

"I'll cook." Bella piped up. I raised my eyebrows. She blushed. "I cook for Charlie and me all the time. I'll bring by something tomorrow, okay?" Billy just nodded his head towards her with a smile.

"Come on Bella." I said as I headed to the door, holding it open for her. Once she was outside I grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. "How are your cuts?" I asked, grabbing her arm and undoing the makeshift bandage. It didn't look like it was too deep, at least she was somehow smart in her dumbass attempt.

"They sting but I don't think they need stitches...they're not bleeding anymore." She peered down with me.

I nodded, wrapping her wrist back up. "I'll take you home." I was resigned already to my fate to come.

"Uh..Charlie thinks that I'm staying the night with the Cullen's until tomorrow." She muttered, looking down at the ground. "I don't want to...go to their house. I can't deal with Edward apologizing right now."

"Then you can crash at my house. My mom's never home." I shrugged. "Or Sam's house if you'd be more comfortable. They always have a spare bedroom." Good, maybe she was finally afraid of her precious vampire family.

"Your house is fine, he looked tired and I don't want to impose.

I felt giddy knowing she'd be in my house, but I contained it. It was just one night. "Alright, come on." I waited for her to get beside me before I started leading the way to my small house. She stumbled a few times before I finally gave up trying to catch her and just linked our arms together.

When we got to my house I opened the front door for her, flipping on a light as we stepped inside. Our house was pretty basic, which was good enough considering me nor my mom were ever really home. We had a couch, a small television that was barely used, and an empty end table. The rest of the house was pretty much the same, very few pictures on the wall. The ones that were up were of a smaller me, then one of my mother, father, and me. I never understood why my mom kept it hanging up. She could hardly speak of the man that left so many years ago, and I didn't remember much of him anyway.

"If you're hungry we have some food in the kitchen." I muttered. "Otherwise my rooms the first door on the left." I nodded towards the small hallway. "I can sleep on the couch."

"I'm not hun-" Then her stomach growled. I smirked as she scowled down at it like it betrayed her. "Okay food then sleep." She was already heading to the kitchen.

I followed wondering if my mom had ever went to the grocery store. Opening the fridge then the cabinets I made a face. Nope. Bella gave me a questioning look and I shrugged my shoulders. "My mom works non stop, we're both hardly here."

She nodded, pulling out some eggs and cheese. "These will work." She said, already finding a skillet and going to work.

"Want me to help?" I don't know why I offered. I was pretty much useless in the kitchen unless I could just open it and eat it. If it weren't for Emily I would have probably starved.

She shook her head with a small smile. "I cook all the time, it's fine."

"If you cook all the time then why are you so damn then?" I didn't really mean to say it out loud but she really needed to take care of herself.

She stopped cracking eggs into the skillet on the stove, though looking down at it. "It seems ever since I haven't been around you I can't eat."

Frowning I stepped towards her, hesitantly putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." There was so much I wanted, that I _needed_ to say, but this sounded better right now.

"I know I made a mistake. I don't know why." She turned around to face me, my hand dropping in the process. "I just...the imprint, that was a surprise. Then it was like I felt this crazy need to be around you, to be with you. I was starting to get used to it, starting to like you. But all those months? I just dreamed that he would come back. When he did it's what I thought I wanted. It's been...hell." She sighed. "I can't sleep and when I do I have nightmares of you leaving me, even if I was the one to walk away. I can't eat. I feel this hole inside of me. I don't know what to do. Then...I always knew it was a risk with vampires." She laughed once despite her eyes filling up with tears. "They all left for my safety when Jasper tried to snap at me when I got a papercut. But I forgave. I always thought Edward could resist, dreamed that one day I would be one of them. Then the look in his eyes as he was coming to me. I was no longer afraid of just Victoria, I thought he would drain me first." She shuddered. "I don't think I could ever want to become one of them. The war, the bloodlust..." She trailed off, looking down at the tiled floor as a tear slid down her cheek.

I reached up, wiping her tear away with my thumb. It was like my life was finally coming into fucking focus. I blinked, looking down at her. Did she really just admit to all of this shit? I felt awful knowing it had been tearing her apart too, but finally she was seeing things clearly. "The imprint was a surprise, and I'm sorry for that, but it can't be helped. I'm sorry for that too. You need to realize...I'm here any way you need me, want me." I gazed into her chocolate brown eyes for what felt like hours until she finally broke away, blushing at the floor. "Your eggs are burning." I noted as the burnt smell filled my nose, figuring we would talk later.

"Oh crap." She spun around and tried to salvage them. I laughed, sitting at the table amused. She must have managed to save said eggs since ten minutes later she sat two plates down at the table. I didn't question her, I just picked up my fork and practically inhaled them, smirking as I noticed Bella had done the same.

Bella's eyes were practically closing right before my eyes. I chuckled as I stood, scooping her up into my arms without asking. She didn't question. "Lets get you in bed." I kicked the door open to my bedroom and laid her down on my bed. I had this hopeful feeling in the morning we could talk things out in the morning. For once in for fucking ever things seemed to be looking up in my favor.

"Lay with me?" She asked sleepily, fighting to keep her eyes open. I just crawled in beside her. She sighed, scooting as close as she could next to me without being on me. I slid an arm around her, already drifting off into a deep peaceful sleep. This was home.


End file.
